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Article snippet: Republican Debbie Lesko is projected to win Arizona’s nationally watched special election, fending off a strong challenge from Democrats who have been over-performing in deep-red seats. Lesko, a former state senator, defeated Democrat Hiral Tipirneni, a former emergency room doctor and first-time candidate, MORE won by 21 points in 2016. The Associated Press called the race minutes after the first batch of votes came in, which were all early ballots. Lesko leads with 53 percent, compared to Tipirneni who’s at 47 percent. Those results are likely to change as in-person Election Day ballots are counted. But even with the early call by the AP, Lesko won by a closer-than-expected margin, significantly underperforming compared to past Republicans in the district. Democrats and political observers were quick to suggest those early results should be a warning for Republicans in November as they navigate much tougher House races. MORE, who stepped down in December after allegedly asking a staffer to carry his child. Lesko will serve out the remainder of Franks’s term. It's possible that there can be another Lesko-Tipirneni match-up in the fall since both are planning to run for a full two-year term. “All I can say is wow, this is really something. This is really quite overwhelming,” Lesko said during her election night speech. “Twenty-five years ago, I left an abusive husband and I sure as heck never would have dreamed in a million years that I would be running for Congr... Link to the full article to read more