Election 2020: What we know and don't know about the results

The 2020 election cycle torpedoed through a nation upended by the COVID-19 pandemic and grappling with partisan animosity, but in Arizona the season culminated in an election day marked by high voter turnout and sparing reports of disruption at the polls.

Voter turnout in Arizona surpassed 2016 numbers, but was not fully known by the end of Tuesday. Nearly 2.64 million early ballots were cast by Monday. Those votes, combined with in-person election votes, are expected to push turnout to record-breaking levels. 

Full results in some races were left undetermined by the end of the night, including various Congressional Districts, state House and Senate races and Prop. 208, an education funding measure. But the Associated Press called the presidential race in Arizona for former Vice President Joe Biden. It also said that Democrat Mark Kelly ousted Republican Martha McSally from her Senate seat.

This week's episode of The Gaggle, an Arizona politics podcast from The Arizona and azcentral.com, breaks down what we know, what we don't know and what comes next.

Here's what we know as of Tuesday night: 

• Arizona went blue, voting for Democrats Joe Biden for president and Mark Kelly for U.S. Senate. 
• Arizona passed Prop. 207, legalizing recreational marijuana in the state  

Arizona entered battleground status nationally in 2018 after constituents elected Kyrsten Sinema, a Democrat, to the U.S. Senate over Republican candidate Martha McSally. Arizona had not had a Democratic senator since 1994 prior to Sinema's victory. 

In 2020, pollsters and political operatives shifted Arizona to "swing state" status for the 2020 election, with Democrats betting on the population's changing demographics to elect presidential nominee and former Vice President Joe Biden. President Donald Trump and his campaign worked fiercely to get out the vote among Arizonans, visiting the state seven times in 2019.

To find out more about how Arizona became a swing state, listen to our podcast, "Rediscovering: SB 1070."

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