With the nation's eyes on Arizona's governor's race, among the highest-profile contests this year and one that is still too close to call, county officials continued the vote count on Monday — now with an end in sight.
The start of the first new work week after the election dawned with Democratic candidate Katie Hobbs maintaining a lead over GOP challenger Kari Lake of just over 26,000 votes, or a single percentage point. About 160,000 ballots, of over 2.6 million cast across the Grand Canyon State, are left to count.
Hobbs has held the lead since partial results were first reported on Nov. 8. But what was once a 14-point gap has shrunk to an uncomfortably close margin as Lake fared better among people who voted in person or dropped off ballots on Election Day.
As votes were added, sometimes just over 1,000 at a time, the gap remained razor-thin, reflecting the toss-up race expected by political observers. As remaining votes to count have dwindled, a path for Lake to overtake Hobbs has become more difficult.
Hobbs' campaign manager expressed confidence about how the race was trending Sunday, saying Hobbs was "the unequivocal favorite to become the next governor of Arizona." Lake did not comment publicly.
Much of Monday's attention is expected to hover around reports from Maricopa County, which includes Phoenix, and Pima County, which includes Tucson. The state's two most populous counties also have the most ballots outstanding, with over 94,000 in Maricopa and 38,000 in Pima. Lake would need to win over 58% of ballots remaining statewide.
Almost 27,000 ballots were left to be counted by Arizona's other counties. Over 10,000 of those were in Pinal County and 8,000 were in Cochise County, in southeast Arizona along the border with Mexico. Lake has won both counties, among ballots cast so far, by over 58%.