Arizona Democrats scored big wins in Tuesday’s midterm elections, and if early results hold, they could control both chambers of the state legislature for the first time in 60 years.
But in Yuma County, the results were more politically mixed.
With ballots still being counted, unofficial returns from early Wednesday morning show that county voters favored Democrats for governor, attorney general, secretary of state and state schools chief.
While Hobbs is leading by more than 1,400 votes in Yuma County, the other three Democrats lead by fewer than 500 votes. In the race for state schools chief, Dr. Teresa Leyba Ruiz is leading Republican Kimberly Yee by just 23 votes.
The results are particularly noteworthy in a county that has favored Republican presidential candidates in recent elections.
Elsewhere on the ballot, Republicans are finding a little more support.
For treasurer, Yuma voters are favoring Republican Elijah Norton over Democrat Nick Mansour by 212 votes.
For Congress, Democrat Adelita Grijalva is leading among Yuma County voters in District 7, while Republican Paul Gosar is leading in District 9.
The divide continues in state legislative races.
Yuma County voters are favoring Democrats for all three seats in Legislative District 23, and Republicans for all three in Legislative District 25.
This tracks with the county’s voting history. Although Republican Michele Peña has represented District 23 since 2023, she finished behind both Democratic candidates in Yuma County in 2024. She nevertheless won reelection thanks to votes cast elsewhere in the district.
The race for Arizona’s Corporation Commission, which regulates utilities, better illustrates Yuma’s divide: Democrat Clara Pratte and Republican Kevin Thompson currently hold the county’s top two spots.
For most statewide ballot measures, Yuma County voters have sided with the current statewide majority.
As of Wednesday, voters have approved the following propositions:
- Prop. 141, which prohibits state and local governments from taxing drivers based on the number of miles they travel or monitoring or restricting vehicle mileage without consent.
- Prop. 316, which requires voter approval for new or increased local grocery taxes and generally caps those taxes at 2%.
- Prop. 317, which declares drug cartels terrorist organizations and directs the Arizona Department of Homeland Security to address their threats.
- Prop. 318, which restricts transgender students from participating on school sports teams or using athletic facilities designated for a sex different from their sex recorded at birth.
- Prop. 319, which restricts the use of traffic enforcement cameras and requires local voter approval to continue operating existing systems.
And rejected the following proposition:
- Prop. 142, which would have expanded restrictions on race- or ethnicity-based preferential treatment in government and public education, including certain diversity statements, training and employment practices.
But Yuma voters broke from the statewide trend on two significant propositions:
- Prop. 144, which would require government-issued identification to vote in every election, including by mail. It would also change election administration rules, prohibit foreign nationals from spending money to influence Arizona elections and establish new standards for legal challenges to election laws.
- Prop. 320, which would require certain school districts to spend at least 60% of their operational budgets on direct instruction, with potential reductions in state funding for districts that fail to meet the requirement. This measure would specifically affect the Yuma Union High School District and Yuma Elementary School District One.
As of early Wednesday morning, both measures have majority support among Yuma County voters, while the no vote leads statewide.
At the time of this publication, Yuma County's unofficial results included 29,159 ballots. But according to the county's elections website, another 19,606 early ballots and 591 provisional ballots remained pending.
With more than 20,000 ballots still pending, the county's closest races could see significant changes as counting continues.
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Reporting for this article is supported by a grant from the Arizona Local News Foundation.
