Media outlets that had resisted making a call in Arizona projected President-elect Joe Biden to win the state on Thursday.
The Associated Press and Fox News both called the state for Biden on election night, drawing repeated complaints from the Trump campaign and Republicans.
Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey repeatedly claimed that there were enough outstanding votes to tip the state for President Donald Trump.
But as of Friday morning, Biden leads by more than 11,000 votes, more than the number of outstanding ballots left to be counted.
CNN, The New York Times, The Washington Post and others called the race for Biden on Thursday.
With Biden leading in Georgia by about 14,000 votes ahead of recount, the president-elect is expected to net 306 electoral votes to Trump’s 232.
Arizona goes blue:
Biden is the first Democrat to win the state since Bill Clinton in 1996.
The deeply-red state that produced conservative icons like Barry Goldwater and John McCain also elected Democrat Mark Kelly to the Senate, where he will join Democrat Kyrsten Sinema. Both Democrats defeated Martha McSally in their respective elections.
The result gives Arizona two Democratic senators for the first time in 67 years.
Republicans held on to the state legislature, however, and won key local races.
Democratic victories hinge on Maricopa County:
Democrats won by tipping the scale in Maricopa County, which includes Phoenix and nearly 60% of the state’s population.
"Here in Maricopa, we committed our resources to contact voters of color, women and traditionally underrepresented groups throughout the state. Our strategy proved to be effective,” County Democratic Chairman Steve Slugocki told CNN.
"This year was a victory for the decade-plus of work in this state," added Laura Dent, the head of the voter outreach group Chispa Arizona. "It has been a decade-plus of building and the sustained work of organizing between electoral cycles have been critical."
