By Chris Caraveo
Twitter: @ChrisCaraveo31

After edging her Democrat opponent in April’s race to replace U.S. Congressman Trent Franks, Debbie Lesko has outdone Hiral Tipirneni once again.

Ms. Lesko was leading Ms. Tipirneni by a 56-44 percent margin when the 8 p.m. early ballot results came in from the Maricopa County Recorder’s Office and the Arizona Secretary of State.

The AP declared Ms. Lesko the winner around 11 p.m. Tuesday.

The two have been competing for the U.S. House of Representatives seat in Arizona’s Congressional District 8, which represents the majority of the north and west Valley communities, including the Sun Cities, Peoria, Glendale and Surprise.

Ms. Lesko will now enter her first full term as a Congresswoman in Washington, D.C.

The final results will put an end to months of attack ads in which Ms. Lesko’s campaign has called her opponent a “fake doctor” in the form of signs with the two words pointing at campaign signs belong to Ms. Tipirneni, as well as TV ads questioning the Democrat’s status as a practicing physician. According to the Arizona Medical Board, Ms. Tipirneni’s license is current through 2020.

Ms. Tipirneni has also had to fight off claims from Ms. Lesko’s camp that the Democrat’s vision for healthcare aligns with that of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders’ “Medicare for All” plan.

Ms. Lesko has already done her part in Congress as she has helped introduce legislation that would benefit senior residents and those concerned about social security and healthcare.

Last week, the 60 Plus Association endorsed Ms. Lesko’s legislation to protect Social Security and Medicare. In July, she introduced House Resolution 1026, which recognizes Medicare and Social Security as important programs that must be protected for current enrollees and strengthened for the future.

“My work on behalf of senior citizens in Congress continues to be recognized by national organizations,” Ms. Lesko stated last week. “I am committed to ensuring these important programs remain in place for seniors in the Eighth Congressional District and across the nation.”

Legislative Districts 21 and 22

All six seats available in the Northwest Valley’s two legislative districts are primed to go to Republicans, as their five Democrat and one Independent counterparts trailed by at least 6 percentage points in each race.

In Legislative District 21, Rick Gray retained the Senate seat he took over when Ms. Lesko left for Washington, D.C. His lone opponent on the ballot was Kathy Knecht, a former school board member and the only Independent running in the district. Mr. Gray won by a 53-47 margin.

The House of Representatives seats are also up for grabs, with incumbents Kevin Payne (29 percent) and Tony Rivero (28 percent) leading over Gilbert Romero (21 percent) and Bradley Hughes (22 percent).

In LD 22, Republican David Livingston is the likely winner in the Senate with a 64-36 lead over Democrat Wendy Garcia. The two have been running to replace term-limited Judy Burges. Mr. Livingston had been serving in the Arizona House but vacated his spot to run for Senate. That left Arizona House Republican Ben Toma running against a trio of challengers: Democrats Valerie Harris and Teri Sarmiento and Republican Frank Carroll. Both Republicans gained 30-plus percent of votes in the district while the Democrats each had less than 20 percent of votes.

Polling numbers and problems

With more than 3.7 million registered voters in Arizona, ballot results as of 10:30 p.m. put voter turnout statewide above 36 percent.

Voter turnout in the Phoenix area was projected to be over 60 percent in Tuesday’s general election.

That’s much higher than the 45 percent turnout for the last midterm election in November 2014.

Maricopa County Recorder Adrian Fontes said in Facebook event 6 p.m. Tuesday that the high turnout resulted in long lines at some polling stations.

At that time he said the state’s most populous county had more than 242,000 in-person voters, a record.

Arizona State University in Tempe saw continuously long lines. Mr. Fontes said there were some technical glitches and a couple of locations that didn’t open on time because poll workers were locked out of the buildings, including a foreclosed building in Chandler.

Mr. Fontes said the Chandler location was being set up at an alternative site elsewhere in the same property. Officials had planned initially to relocate to a high school. In addition, at least two polling locations — Desert of the Dove United Methodist Church in Glendale and the Clubhouse in Youngtown — were among the Northwest Valley sites reporting problems, mainly with printing ballots.

Barrett Marson, a campaign manager for Ms. Lesko, reportedly visited Desert of the Dove and tweeted people were able to continue casting ballots.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.