Republican Eli Crane has defeated Democratic incumbent Tom O’Halleran in Tuesday’s election bid for Arizona’s 2nd Congressional District, according to projections.
Polls ahead of Tuesday night had shown that Crane was leading and would likely take O’Halleran’s seat.
Crane was leading with 53.7 percent of the vote as of Wednesday evening, while to O’Halleran’ held 46.3 percent, according to projections from the Associated Press, bringing Republicans one step closer to control of the House.
NBC and ABC called the race in favor of Crane.
Crane, a former Navy SEAL, has been deployed five times, including three times to the Middle East. He is also a businessman and shares a company called Bottle Breacher with his wife which focuses on employing and giving back to veterans nationwide.
He has focused his campaign largely on election integrity and illegal immigration and has also been outspoken against vaccine mandates.
The businessman has also been outspoken in questioning the results of the 2020 presidential election.
“As a candidate running for US Congress in AZ, I’m calling on the state legislature to decertify the 2020 election, along with enlarging the efforts to audit the remaining counties in AZ. Finally, our AZ AG must launch a criminal investigation to hold all involved accountable,” he tweeted last year.
‘Conservative Warrior in Eli’
The GOP candidate was endorsed by former President Donald Trump and received support from a number of Republican lawmakers including Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Rep. Kat Cammack (R-Fla.), who both took to Twitter to congratulate him on Wednesday.
“The Grand Canyon State has elected a conservative warrior in Eli, and I’m looking forward to serving with him on Capitol Hill. Congrats again, Eli – I can’t wait to welcome you to Washington and get to work!” Cammack wrote.
Democrat O’Halleran is a former police officer and business owner who has served in the Arizona State Senate as a Republican from 2007 to 2009 and in the Arizona House of Representatives from 2001 to 2006. A former Republican, he left in 2014 amid disagreements over how the party health with various issues such as education and child welfare.
The former Republican, who portrayed himself as a relatively moderate Democrat and who co-chairs the centrist Blue Dog Coalition, is also a member of the House Agriculture Committee and the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
His campaign has focused on the economy and ending policies that pressure middle-class families. He has also been vocal about his support for immigration reforms that secure the border while keeping families together and fully supports the DREAM Act.
Arizona’s 1st Congressional District was changed to the state’s 2nd Congressional District after the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission finalized the state’s new congressional district lines.
The 2nd Congressional District is largely rural and encompasses much of northern Arizona, including Apache, Coconino, Graham, Greenlee, and Navajo counties as well as parts of Gila, Maricopa, Mohave, Pima, Pinal, and Yavapai counties.
According to FiveThirtyEight, the district mostly favors the Republican party by 15 percentage points more than the rest of the country.
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Katabella Roberts is a news writer for The Epoch Times, focusing primarily on the United States, world, and business news.
