With each passing hour, Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs’ plan to flip the Arizona Legislature is looking more like a colossal flop.
It’s early days yet — this is Arizona, after all, where elections, like glaciers, take time to complete — but it appears that Republicans will hold onto or even boost their control of the House and Senate.
This, despite the governor’s legislative campaign, copious amounts of cash and an abortion rights measure that was supposed to set up Democrats for success.
Democrats remain cautiously optimistic, believing the early ballots still to be counted — the ones dropped off over the weekend and through Tuesday — will break their way and give them at least a share of legislative control.
“We are still at those early returns that were heavily GOP, yet there are clearly GOP defections and a huge independent lead for Democrats,” Democratic strategist Tony Cani said. “Otherwise, the leads would be way bigger.”
Others say they’ll count it as a win if they can eke out a Senate tie or even maintain the status quo, given the broader national shift to the right. Donald Trump, they point out, is winning the state by more than 5 points.
“Everything has moved........