Kyrsten Sinema wins, will become the first Democratic senator from Arizona in a quarter century

Authored by thinkprogress.org and submitted by Demon-Rat
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Rep. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) has an insurmountable lead over her Republican opponent, Rep. Martha McSally (R-AZ), and will be the next United States Senator from Arizona, according to the Cook Political Report.

Projection: Rep. Kyrsten Sinema (D) has defeated Rep. Martha McSally (R) in #AZSEN. This thing has been over for a while. — Dave Wasserman (@Redistrict) November 12, 2018

Although partial returns showed McSally with a slight lead on election night, the sun rose the next day with many ballots still uncounted in Democratic leaning areas of the state. As of this writing, Sinema now enjoys a 1.5 percentage point lead over McSally, with some ballots still left to count.

Sinema will be the first Democratic senator from Arizona since Sen. Dennis DeConcini left office in 1995.

Though Sinema’s election is obviously good news for Democrats, the 2018 election results highlighted the massive structural advantages Republicans enjoy due to Senate malapportionment. Democratic House candidates are on track to win the national popular vote by as much as 7 points, yet Republicans gained seats in the Senate.

Red Wyoming, with only 573,720 people, receives the same number of senators as blue California, despite the fact that California has nearly 40 million people. Due to this structural advantage for small states, which are more likely to support Republicans over Democrats, the Republican “majority” will represent at least 14 million fewer people than the Democratic “minority” in the incoming Senate.

CaptainCaz on November 12nd, 2018 at 16:03 UTC »

While I anticipate many people on the Right will be unhappy with this outcome and blame the influx of Latino immigrants into our State, the truth is we centrist Arizonans are getting tired of Republican policies that keep our schools poor and our wages low while they invite big corporations to do business here for cheap labor (call centers, service jobs) specifically because they keep wages and education low.

Hrekires on November 12nd, 2018 at 15:50 UTC »

fun fact: she appears to be the first Senator elected with no religious affiliation.

also good reading: The congresswoman who grew up in a gas station

Mister_E_Phister on November 12nd, 2018 at 14:48 UTC »

I've been voting for over 20 years now, and I've never felt like my vote mattered more than this election.