A last-minute appearance by Dr. Jill Biden at this year’s Flagstaff Pride left community members to lash out against their local Pride organization.
The considerable shift to the right locally showed many that the work to attain civil rights is far from over.
While Arizona is still counting ballots, Trump has taken the necessary number of electoral college votes to be reinstated as the 47th President of the United States.
Results will start updating after all polling locations report, or one hour after all polls close, whichever comes first. Polls close in Arizona at 7 p.m. MST.
Live Blog from Nov. 5
9:45 p.m. - Ballots still haven't dropped in Maricopa or the rest of the state, and we'll be closing out our coverage at 10 p.m. tonight. But some take aways of the day and after the polls closed is that though there were hiccups, long lines, and large turnout, there was also an added feeling of fear, as a handful of election locations had to be evacuated because of bomb threats.
What this was: a tense and long day with a lot of anxiety on both sides leading into it, since the polls showed a neck-and-neck race. What this ended up being was not so much that, and more proof that polling—while useful—is not always helpful.
9:30 p.m- Proposition 139 is being called as a win in Arizona, enshrining the right for an abortion until fetal viability. It's a sign that even though all signs are pointing to a more conservative nation, that abortion and women's abilities to make healthcare decisions for themselves was a dividing factor within the Republican party.
8:56 p.m. - Proposition 139, which would make abortion a right in the state of Arizona, has a size-able lead and could handedly win.
8:42 p.m. - Ballots counted so far have anti-LGBTQ+ candidates receiving hefty support in their races for school boards across Maricopa and Pima County.
In Peoria, a district that has experienced contentious public backlash for their anti-LGBTQ+ board decisions, former district employee Janelle Bowles and sister to Jan. 6 attendee and state Sen. Anthony Kern is trailing Becky Proudfit.
8:40 p.m. - With 50% of votes counted, Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris are in a dead heat at exactly 49.6% of the vote, each. Trump leads, though, with just under 4,000 votes.
At the same time, Kari Lake is trailing Ruben Gallego by almost five percentage points, giving credence to early polling that Republicans who preferred Trump didn't find Lake as appealing.
8:30 p.m. - Currently, the three leading contenders for Arizona's Corporation Commission are all Republicans, which—if the leads continue—would keep the commission a supermajority in favor of Republicans. Two of those three are people who have publicly opposed LGBTQ+ rights.
8:15 p.m. - The Associated Press called Yassamin Ansari's race for Congressional District 3, and is currently the only state race being called by the news organization. She will be the second Iranian-American woman ever elected to Congress.
8 p.m.- More bomb threats, this time in Bisbee. Sheriff Mark Dannels told press that he has not yet tied the threat at the Cochise County elections office to similar threats made from Russian emails.
On X, NewsNation reporter Ali Bradley wrote that Cochise County said: “The elections department has been evacuated due to a bomb threat. Employees are safe and the Board has been notified. First unofficial results which were to be posted soon after 8:00 PM will now be delayed.”
5:30 p.m.- The Maricopa County Superior Court was evacuated due to a bomb threat. Other threats have been made at polling locations across the state, with even more across the nation.
The FBI released an announcement saying that all the threats, as of now, have been from Russian misinformation farms targeting key constituencies.
4:00 p.m. - State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne was kicked out of a polling location for violating the state's 75-foot perimeter rule, the Arizona Republic is reporting.
The Republic reported that Horne was gathering signatures for a his re-election bid for 2026.
11:30 a.m.- Proposition 139 electioneers were kicked off the property of the Coconino Grace Community Church this morning by poll workers. The workers told interns with Arizona List, a pro-abortion organizing group that canvasses for Democrats, to leave because it was "private property" and the owner of the church was anti-abortion, according to Jasmine Jewell, the northern Arizona director for Arizona List.
Polling locations are not allowed to kick voters or electioneers off their property unless they have been listed as an "emergency voting location." Jewell said the church was not. She said she has already contacted the Coconino County Recorder's Office, which informed her that she and her group were allowed to electioneer at the location outside of the 75-foot boundary.
A call to Coconino Grace Community Church and the County Recorder's Office went unanswered.
10:30 a.m.- A lengthy ballot that includes dozens of races across four individual pages has sparked conspiracy theories across Truth Social and TikTok that cast doubts on the length it will take to count millions of ballots.
The posts have made false claims that election tabulation could be done easily, and without any evidence gave credence to election deniers—many of who are running for public office—that voting machines are rigged.
On Truth Social, Donald Trump shared a campaign massage urging his voters to make the state "Too Big to Rig," alluding to many Republican's claims that Maricopa County's voting results in 2020 and 2022 were not true sicne they favored Democratic leadership.
Three seats are up for grabs in this highly contested but overlooked race. Two of those candidates, Rachel Walden and Rene Lopez, have promoted or made anti-LGBTQ+ comments. Read our story about the race here.
The race for the top educator in Maricopa County includes Shelli Boggs, a Republican candidate who has promoted on her campaign website anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric. Boggs has also been endorsed by groups that have made homophobic remarks about "gender ideology," a conservative phrase that aims to cast dispersions on curriculums that include sexual heath, lessons on gender, as well as books that have LGBTQ+ characters.
Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell has been accused by her opponent of not prosecuting certain sex crimes on ASU campuses. Other claims have been made that she has not actively sought out prosecuting hate-crimes, specifically anti-LGBTQ+ crimes.
In Pima County, Laura Conover, who has been championed as a "progressive prosecutor," is up for re-election. Conover, though, has been mired in controversy after withholding information that would have forced her to not represent the county during a post-conviction proceeding where she previously had done legal work for the plaintiff.
The considerable shift to the right locally showed many that the work to attain civil rights is far from over.
The preference runs counter to national survey results showing Donald Trump more favorable among people incarcerated.
The commission’s responsibilities are to manage the state’s utilities. But it also can limit companies who practice social responsibility, including in regards to LGBTQ+ people.
The nonprofit voter-engagement party is one of seven happening across Maricopa County
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