By Cole Lauterbach
The central square

Former President Donald Trump was declared the winner Saturday night in Arizona, marking the final swing state for the Republican to claim his landslide victory.

Arizona was the seventh and final swing state to be decided, securing Trump 312 Electoral College votes.

All counties except Coconino, Apache, Santa Cruz and Pima favored Trump over Vice President Kamala Harris. Maricopa County, the source of dozens of election challenges, including a partisan review of 2020 election ballots, currently favors Trump by more than 78,000 votes. Trump lost the state to President Joe Biden in 2020 by just over 10,000 votes.

According to the Secretary of State’s office, Trump leads Harris by 184,935 in a 53% to 46% split.

Full election results are not expected for at least another week, which is no different from previous cycles. Two-page ballots with dozens of judicial retention races and ballot measures led to slower results in the days after polls closed. A new election integrity law enacted this year requires polling stations to count envelopes before ballots can be sent out, adding to the delay in results.

Both the Trump and Harris campaigns made Arizona a priority throughout the election cycle, whether hosting rallies themselves or sending big-name surrogates.

Campaign volunteers came to Maricopa County to join local activists knocking on thousands of doors in the days leading up to the election. Many residents complained about the barrage of phone calls, text messages, emails and brochures from numerous organizations.

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