Arizona 2016 Election Results

Ballot Measures, May 17, 2016

Arizona voters decided 2 statewide ballot measures on May 17, 2016.

Ballot measures

General Election, November 8, 2016

Arizona held its general election on November 8, 2016, deciding 90 legislative seats across 60 districts and the office of Corporation Commissioner. No chamber changed party control.

Highlights

• Republicans kept full control of state government. Despite talk of a 15-15 Senate, the chamber stayed 17-13, and Democrats netted one House seat for a 35-25 Republican majority.
• The parties traded two Senate seats:
  • Sean Bowie (D) beat Frank Schmuck (R) by about 3 points for the open District 18 seat, a rare Democratic win in a longtime Republican stronghold in Phoenix's East Valley suburbs.
  • Frank Pratt (R) unseated Sen. Barbara McGuire (D) by about 6 points in District 8.
• Each Arizona House district elects two members, and three House incumbents lost:
  • In District 2, Rep. John Christopher Ackerley (R) lost by about 4,000 votes to Rosanna Gabaldón (D), who kept the second seat. Daniel Hernandez Jr. (D), the intern who helped keep Gabby Giffords conscious after she was shot in 2011, finished first.
  • In District 18, Rep. Robert Robson (R) lost the second seat by about 3,000 votes to fellow Republican incumbent Jill Norgaard (R). Denise Epstein (D) took first.
  • In District 10, Rep. Stefanie Mach (D) missed the second seat by about 760 votes, a Republican gain. Todd Clodfelter (R) and Kirsten Engel (D) won.
• House Minority Leader Eric Meyer (D) lost the open District 28 Senate seat to Rep. Kate Brophy McGee (R) by about 2,300 votes. Sen. Sylvia Allen (R) held District 6 by about 1,800 votes over Nikki Check Bagley (D). In 12 Senate races, only one candidate ran.
• Republicans swept the three Corporation Commission seats in a race focused on rooftop solar and utility money; the parent company of utility Arizona Public Service spent nearly $4 million for the Republican slate. Commissioners Bob Burns (R) and Andy Tobin (R) won, and Boyd Dunn (R) took the third seat by about 37,000 votes over Bill Mundell (D), a former commissioner.
• Voters split on the two November measures. Proposition 206 passed, raising the minimum wage to $12 by 2020 and requiring paid sick time. Proposition 205, which would have legalized recreational marijuana, narrowly failed.

Legislature

• House (60 seats): 24 D, 36 R before the election, 25 D, 35 R after; control stayed with Republicans.
• Senate (30 seats): 13 D, 17 R before the election, 13 D, 17 R after; control stayed with Republicans.

Statewide races

Legislative races

Ballot measures