Decision 2026: Complete coverage of primary elections in Arizona

[00:00:00]After months of campaigning, primary day is finally here. Voters across Pima County are making their voices heard tonight and have cast their ballots for Arizona's 2026 primary election. Good evening, everybody, and thanks for joining us. I'm Shawn Mooney.

[00:00:14]>> And I'm Monica Garcia from key local races to statewide contests, there's a lot at stake in tonight. The first batch of results, they are in.

[00:00:23]>> That's right. And tonight, we're bringing you team coverage across the state as we track the closest races and break down the results so far.

[00:00:31]>> And our News 4 Tucson's political specialist, Eric Fink, is live in Scottsdale, and News 4 Tucson's John Maccalluso is live in Midtown, and News 4 Tucson's Jacob Owens is live from the north side.

[00:00:41]>> But first, let's send things out to Eric Fink. Eric, the race for governor this fall in Arizona is set. Democratic incumbent Katie Hobbs will take on Republican Congressman Andy Biggs.

[00:00:52]You're live at Andy Biggs' watch party.

[00:00:54]What can you tell us tonight?

[00:00:59]>> Shawn, quite a late night here in Scottsdale, and in fact, the race for the GOP nomination for governor was called at 8:05, just 5 minutes after it was even possible to get results. The AP calling that race, but Andy Biggs, now the nominee for governor, is not here.

[00:01:15]He has had some travel delays. He was out of state for much of the day at the Republican Governors Association meeting, and he was supposed to be landing around 4 or 5 o'clock tonight, but he's running into some travel delays. So, his wife, Cindy Biggs, was on stage speaking to the crowd. He is expected to be here, but he is not been here yet, and he has We're told he has not even landed here in Arizona just yet. Well, after the very first vote drop here around 8:05, Biggs had hit 70% of the vote over Congressman David Schweikert. Now, this was very much expected. Biggs has the endorsement of President Donald Trump and the endorsement of Turning Point USA. He will also go into the general election with Republicans having a party ID advantage in battleground Arizona. There are roughly 300,000 more registered Republicans than Democrats in Arizona, but independents, they will make the difference. They broke for Governor Hobbs 4 years ago, and she hopes that will happen again. Let's take a listen to Governor Hobbs.

[00:02:13]>> We've been working for over a year on this campaign and building the coalitions and support we need to win.

[00:02:20]I'm not taking a single vote for granted. Most voters are not tuning in yet. And so, um I I'm confident that we're running the campaign I need to win, and I'm really proud of the coalition of folks here uh supporting my re-election.

[00:02:38]>> So, it will be Hobbs versus Biggs this fall in the race for Arizona governor, and each of the candidates will pick a running mate in the coming weeks. There will actually be a lieutenant governor here in Arizona for the first time.

[00:02:48]Those picks from the candidates are expected in the coming weeks. Now, we are expecting to hear from Congressman Andy Biggs here. We were first told 10:30. Now, we're expecting a little bit later, but you will hear from Andy Biggs coming up at the very least on Tucson Today starting tomorrow at 4:30. We're live in Scottsdale tonight where Andy Biggs has won the GOP race for governor.

[00:03:10]I'm Eric Fink, News 4 Tucson. Let's send things back to you in Midday.

[00:03:14]>> All right, Eric, thank you for that. And now we want to get to more on the state Senate seat up for grabs in the Democratic primary. While many Democratic candidates are running unopposed, there are still a few closely watched races tonight.

[00:03:27]>> And that is the case. News 4 Tucson's John Macaluso joins us live with the latest. John.

[00:03:33]>> Yeah, good evening, Shawn and Monica.

[00:03:35]Right now, we are following one of the big local races here in Southern Arizona, and that is the open state Senate seat in Legislative District 20.

[00:03:45]Now, the two candidates vying for that are Democrats, both of them. One is Alma Hernandez, the other Rocky Perez.

[00:03:54]The seat is open because Senator Sally Ann Gonzales is term-limited. So, tonight's winner will be the favorite to represent this heavily Democratic district in November. Rocky Perez served on Tucson City Council back in 2025.

[00:04:07]>> I'm coming into this understanding the ways that the Arizona State Legislature is decision-making both in terms of policy as well as its budget impact and trickle down to our counties and cities.

[00:04:17]And be it how we can address housing, how we can address homelessness, the prevalence of substances, the list goes on.

[00:04:22]>> While Alma Hernandez is currently serving in the Arizona House of Representatives.

[00:04:27]>> I'm going to continue building on what I've already started and have been working on, which is housing, uh funding for housing, um rental assistance, and uh juvenile criminal justice reform issues, too.

[00:04:38]>> The district covers much of Tucson's south and west sides, including downtown, South Tucson, and the University of Arizona area. Meanwhile, Congresswoman Adelita Grijalva is running unopposed as she looks to keep the Democratic nomination in Arizona's 7th Congressional District. She shared with us what she's accomplished during her 9 months in Congress.

[00:04:57]>> We've introduced 10 bills. We've over 315 bills have been co-sponsored by me.

[00:05:04]452 policy letter co-signs. Over 350 Well, we're at like Oh my gosh, I think over 500 meetings and over 25 community events hosted. So, we are working very hard um for Southern Arizona.

[00:05:19]>> JoAnna Mendoza is the Democratic nominee to run against Juan Ciscomani for Congressional District 6 in November.

[00:05:25]She shared with me what she brings to the table.

[00:05:28]>> I served 20 years in the military, retired from the Marine Corps. I did a couple of tours to Iraq and Afghanistan.

[00:05:35]I understand the sentiment and how service members and their families are feeling right now, especially with the the war in Iran.

[00:05:46]>> Now, we will continue to track these We'll have more information on the results as we get them. Live here downtown, John Macaluso, News 4 Tucson.

[00:05:55]>> All right, thank you, John. And over on the GOP side, several candidates running to represent Southern Arizona nationally are running unopposed.

[00:06:02]>> That's right. But, uh two Republicans are vying for one uh state Senate seat just outside of Tucson. And let's take a look at the current results right now.

[00:06:11]Christopher King uh leading the race for Arizona State Senate. This is District 17 with 63% of the vote. And that's compared to Anthony Dunham with 37% of the votes.

[00:06:24]>> And for more on this, News 4 Tucson's Jacob Owens joins us live with more on this race. Jacob, what can you tell us tonight?

[00:06:33]>> Sean, Monica, that Senate race in Legislative District 17 is between two veterans, Chris King and Anthony Dunham.

[00:06:40]So, the Pima County GOP had a watch party. It's kind of nearing its end here at the Union Public House on the north side. But, GOP Chairwoman Kathleen Winn says that both men were invited to this watch party. However, only Dunham was here tonight. I spoke with him earlier about why he got into that race.

[00:07:01]>> What prompted me to jump into the race for LD 17 was the unfortunate event around Charlie Kirk's murder. That was kind of my call to action.

[00:07:09]>> Republicans running in the primaries for Congressional District 6 and 7 are unopposed. Small business owner Daniel Buck Tierra's will be trying to flip the seat for the GOP for the third time. He says he wants to bring good jobs to Southern Arizona in addition to the mining jobs already in the district.

[00:07:27]>> But, I'd like to bring in other industries and and work out something that like, you know what, we we give you a tax break for 1 year.

[00:07:35]You bring your business here.

[00:07:36]>> There was also a show of support for incumbent CD 6 Congressman Juan Ciscomani. He will be seeking a third term this November. Ciscomani, who is currently in Washington, D.C., says he is most proud of bills he supported like federal tax cut legislation passed last year. That bill eliminated taxes on tips and overtime.

[00:07:58]>> When people come here to Washington, a lot of them come here to get famous in different ways and social media, say scandalous things, get in unnecessary squabbles on social media, and and just making try to make a name for themselves that way. I'm not like that. I come here to roll up my sleeves and go to work.

[00:08:17]>> Monica Shaunt Sean, both of those congressional candidates are now turning their attention to November. Well, we continue to watch results in the legislative District 17 race. We'll keep you updated as those continue to come in tonight. Reporting live on the north side, Jacob Owens, News 4 Tucson.

[00:08:37]>> Thank you, Jacob. As that is he said, the most uh election results coming in right now. And for complete coverage on the primary and the latest results tonight, visit our website at kvoa.com/decision2026.