Why AP called the Arizona Senate race for Ruben Gallego

Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Associated Press declared Democrat Ruben Gallego the winner of Arizona’s U.S. Senate seat after vote updates on Monday and over the weekend increased his statewide lead and closed off any remaining paths to victory for Republican Kari Lake. At the time the AP called the race at 11:49 p.m. ET, Gallego led Lake with 50% of the vote to 48%, a margin of nearly 73,000 votes with about 95% of the total vote counted. In order to overtake Gallego, Lake would need to win about seven out of every 10 of the estimated 181,000 ballots that remain to be counted. That was too high a hurdle for the Republican nominee to clear.