After nearly a week of ballot counting, one of the last unresolved House races in the country has finally been called.
And the Republican incumbent survived.
Rep. Eli Crane defeated Democrat Jonathan Nez in Arizona’s 2nd Congressional District, according to the Associated Press race call issued Monday morning.
Crane’s campaign marked the result with a simple victory image for Arizona’s sprawling 2nd District.
The latest numbers remain unofficial, but they show exactly why the race kept Arizona watching for days.
Arizona’s official results portal showed Crane with 162,741 votes, or 49.65%, and Nez with 158,857 votes, or 48.47%, in its Monday afternoon update. Libertarian Curtis Goodwin had 5,979 votes.
That put Crane 3,884 votes ahead in the latest posted count. The result has been called, but Arizona officials still label the totals unofficial while counties complete their canvasses and the state moves toward its November 23 canvass.
The call preserves a Republican seat in a district President Trump carried by roughly 15 points in 2024. Crane’s own margin was much smaller this time, a dramatic tightening from his roughly nine-point victory over Nez two years ago.
Local Arizona reporting captured the moment the race moved from a days-long cliffhanger to a Republican hold.
Republican incumbent Rep. Eli Crane defeated Democratic challenger Jonathan Nez in Arizona’s last congressional race to be called by The Associated Press.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: https://t.co/bBCjCiJwYI pic.twitter.com/Ww4C4MZWZd
— KTAR News 92.3 (@KTAR923) November 9, 2026
KTAR News reported that this was Arizona’s last congressional race to be called. At the time of the AP call, Crane led by 3,834 votes and roughly 1.1 percentage points, already beyond the margin that would trigger an automatic recount.
The station also reported that outside groups poured about $7.6 million into the race after the July primary. Groups backing Crane spent roughly $5.3 million, while groups backing Nez spent about $2.4 million—an extraordinary level of attention for a district that had long leaned Republican.
KTAR traced the money to federal campaign-finance filings and found that No Going Back PAC was the biggest outside spender, putting about $3.4 million into supporting Crane and opposing Nez. House Majority PAC, a Democratic super PAC, spent nearly $1 million against Crane.
Under Arizona law, an automatic recount is triggered when the margin between the top two candidates is no more than one-half of one percent of their combined votes. Crane’s current advantage is well outside that threshold.
That does not make the posted totals certified. Arizona Citizens Clean Elections says every result remains unofficial until the formal canvass is adopted.
The commission’s timeline shows county boards conducting their canvasses from November 9 through November 19. The statewide canvass is scheduled for November 23 with the secretary of state, governor and chief justice.
It also explains why counting continued beyond Election Day: Arizona allows voters to drop off mail ballots that day, and ballots not accompanied by in-person identification must still pass signature verification. Provisional ballots and ballots with signature or identification issues also move through statutory review deadlines before the final results are adopted.
But the race call itself is a major relief for conservatives after the lead changed hands during counting and an early margin sat inside recount territory.
Turning Point Action celebrated the outcome as another term for an America First fighter.
ANOTHER TERM FOR ELI CRANE!
Congratulations to @EliCraneAZ on his victory! Arizona’s 2nd District is keeping a fighter in Congress who puts America First. pic.twitter.com/adrwGsX7Bd
— Turning Point Action (@TPAction) November 9, 2026
KJZZ noted that the lead switched hands multiple times while counties counted ballots. The outlet also put the result in a larger statewide context: Republicans held this seat, but Arizona’s U.S. House delegation is set to move from a 6-3 Republican advantage to a 5-4 Democratic edge after Democrats flipped two other seats.
Crane, a former Navy SEAL and member of the House Freedom Caucus, has represented the district since 2023. Nez, a former president of the Navajo Nation, was challenging him in a rematch of their 2024 contest.
KJZZ reported that the district was one of three Arizona seats once viewed as safe Republican territory that the GOP narrowly managed to hold this year. The much tighter rematch followed a late surge of national attention and resources from both parties.
This one was far closer than most Republicans expected. But after days of counting, the America First incumbent is headed back to Congress.
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[ H/T WLT Report ]
