Arizona Democratic Party Chair Felecia Rotellini released the following statement:
“Congratulations to Dr. Hiral Tipirneni on a hard fought primary victory. She ran an incredible campaign focused on improving the lives of Arizonans in the Eighth Congressional District by offering real solutions for them. This is in direct contrast to the chaos Arizonans have seen on their television screens by the Arizona Republican Party.
The Eighth Congressional District deserves a representative that work to get things done for them - like safeguarding Social Security and Arizona's AHCCCS while making sure their hard-earned tax dollars don't go to waste in Washington. Dr. Hiral Tipirneni will do exactly that.”
Hiral Tipirneni has won the Democratic primary in a special election to replace an Arizona congressman who stepped down while facing allegations of sexual misconduct.
Tuesday night's victory means Tipirneni moves onto the April 24 general election against whoever wins the Republican primary. The GOP nominee is a strong favorite to win the seat in the Republican stronghold covering much of the western Phoenix suburbs.
Tipirneni is an emergency-room physician who got support from former U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords. She beat Brianna Westbrook, who became involved in politics several years ago as a transgender woman who argued for a Phoenix policy that would protect the LGBTQ community from discrimination.
In all, about 101,000 early ballot votes were initially posted by Maricopa County elections officials.
The race for the republican nomination is still undecided with Debbie Lesko out to an early lead.
