Gabby Giffords' former congressional aide Ron Barber, who was shot in the face and thigh by Jared Loughner, has retained the seat he won by special election when Giffords stepped down. Barber was declared the winner
Saturday after the Arizona Republic determined that there was not enough provisional/absentee ballots for his challenger, Martha McSally, to overcome his narrow lead:
Democrat Ron Barber has won a full term representing Arizona’s 2nd Congressional District, squeaking out a win over Republican Martha McSally and giving Democrats a sweep of the state’s three competitive races for U.S. House seats.
In a special election in June, voters decisively picked Barber to fill out the remainder of former congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords’s term, but in the Nov. 6 election, the winner wasn’t clear before Saturday. Barber and McSally had each held leads since election night, with a difference of only a few dozen votes at times, before Barber steadily began pulling ahead.[..]Barber’s victory means Democrats have the majority of the state’s congressional delegation, holding five of the state’s nine House seats, while Republicans’ only congressional victories in Arizona were in districts safe for GOP candidates.
The Republicans had a 5-3 advantage in the House delegation going into the Nov. 6 election, which filled a new ninth seat.
Democrat Krysten Sinema won the new Phoenix-area 9th District over former Paradise Valley mayor Vernon Parker, and Democrat Ann Kirkpatrick regained her old congressional seat by beating Republican Jonathan Paton in the 1st District.
