U.S. Rep.David Schweikert./Photo by Gage Skidmore/ Flickr/CC BY-SA 2.0
By Laura Gómez | Arizona Mirror
After a day of trailing in his re-election bid, U.S. Rep. David Schweikert has captured the lead over Democratic challenger Hiral Tipirneni in the sixth congressional district.
Schweikert has represented the district, which includes Scottsdale, Paradise Valley, Fountain Hills, Cave Creek and parts of north Phoenix, since 2013. In 2018, Tipirneni, a doctor, unsuccessfully ran for a different Congressional seat in the West Valley.
When voting concluded in the early morning hours Wednesday, Tiperneni led Schweikert by just half of one percentage points, a lead of about 1,800 votes. As of Wednesday night, Schweikert edged ahead of Tipirneni by about 2,600 votes.
The race is still too close to call. Maricopa County elections officials say there are about 360,000 ballots left to count, but how many are in the Schweikert-Tipirneni race is unknown.