Arizona Legislative District 27's Second Seat Heads to an Automatic Recount on a 313-Vote Gap: Fink Leads Rivero 33,731 to 33,418, a 0.29-Point Margin, While Howard Has Secured the Other Seat
PHOENIX, Maricopa County, Arizona — The final partisan balance of the Arizona Legislature is set, but one state House seat remains undecided as two Republican incumbents head into an automatic recount in a northwest Maricopa County district, Phoenix-area media reported on November 13. Legislative District 27 covers parts of Phoenix, Glendale and Peoria.
Maricopa County released its final unofficial results Wednesday, showing Democrat Deborah Howard winning 37.3 percent of the vote. Howard was the only Democrat in the November 3 general election for the district's two House seats and has secured one of them.
The contest for the second seat between incumbent Republican Representatives Lisa Fink and Tony Rivero falls within the margin that requires a recount under a 2022 state law. That statute mandates a full recount of all ballots in any race decided by less than 0.5 percentage points. Fink currently leads Rivero by 313 votes, 33,731 to 33,418, a difference of 0.29 percentage points. Just over 107,000 ballots were cast in the race.
Rivero conceded the race on November 6, congratulating Howard and Fink on their victories. It has been a true honor serving LD 27 over the last two years, he wrote on social media. A huge thank you to our volunteers and supporters for your dedication every step of the way.
Recounts rarely change the outcome of an election. The most prominent recent example in Arizona came in the 2022 attorney general race between Democrat Kris Mayes and Republican Abe Hamadeh, in which Hamadeh gained 231 votes in the recount but Mayes still prevailed by 280 votes out of more than 2.5 million ballots cast. Most of the discrepancy was traced to an approximately 500-vote undercount in Pinal County caused by human error.
Statewide, Democrats have secured a 30-20 supermajority in the Senate and a 37-23 advantage in the House. When the Legislature convenes in January 2027, Democrats will hold the Senate, House and governorship simultaneously for the first time in 60 years. The recount in District 27 will determine the final House roster, though the outcome will not alter the Democratic majority. The district's voters will be represented by Howard and either Fink or Rivero when the new session begins.
Source: Focal News
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：亚利桑那州议会大厦（资料图，本稿重计所涉州议会所在地）。图中是位于菲尼克斯的亚利桑那州议会大厦。David Jiang，CC BY-SA 4.0（按 Wikimedia Commons 文件页抄录），经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: file photo related to this report. David Jiang，CC BY-SA 4.0（按 Wikimedia Commons 文件页抄录）, via Wikimedia Commons.
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