The Associated Press called the Arizona race for Democratic nominee Joe Biden, corroborating a Fox News projection from several hours earlier in the evening.
Around 11:30 p.m. EST, Fox News projected Biden would win Arizona and its 11 electoral votes, a decision that drew criticism from the Trump campaign and also appeared to be met with skepticism by Republican Gov. Doug Ducey.
Fox News, however, stood by the projection.
The Associated Press explains on its website how it decides to call races, a process that it distinguishes from simply projecting the winner of a race.
AP does not make projections or name apparent or likely winners. If our race callers cannot definitively say a candidate has won, we do not engage in speculation. AP did not call the closely contested race in 2000 between George W. Bush and Al Gore – we stood behind our assessment that the margin in Florida made it too close to call.
Only when AP is fully confident a race has been won – defined most simply as the moment a trailing candidate no longer has a path to victory – will we make a call. In the race for president in 2016, that moment came at 2:29 a.m. ET the day after Election Day. Our APNewsAlert put it simply: “WASHINGTON (AP) – Donald Trump elected president of the United States.”
AP’s race callers and Decision Desk are driven entirely by the facts. Race calls made by other organizations have no bearing on when AP declares a candidate the winner. Our decision team does not engage in debate with any campaign or candidate. Should a candidate declare victory – or offer a concession – before AP calls a race, we will cover newsworthy developments in our reporting. In doing so, we will make clear that AP has not yet declared a winner and explain the reason why we believe the race is too early or too close to call.
AP called the 2020 Arizona race for Biden shortly before 3 a.m. EST.
Arizona, one of roughly a dozen competitive swing states of the 2020 election cycle, was called by Fox News at 11:30 p.m. EST, roughly two hours after polls closed.
At the time Fox News called Arizona, several swing states were still left to be called by the network: Nevada, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Georgia. DecisionDeskHQ has already called Florida and Ohio for President Donald Trump.
Arizona last voted for a Democratic presidential candidate in the 1996 election, when President Bill Clinton beat Republican nominee Bob Dole, a senator from Kansas, in a landslide outcome that ultimately yielded 379 electoral votes.
Sen. Martha McSally (R-AZ), who was appointed in December 2018 to fill the seat of the late Sen. John McCain after his first replacement resigned, is also projected to lose her re-election bid against Democrat Mark Kelly, a retired NASA astronaut married to former Democratic Rep. Gabby Giffords.
In the 2018 midterm elections, McSally also lost her senate bid against Rep. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ), who ultimately took over the seat previously occupied by Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ), by less than three points. Since 2018, Arizona has had five different U.S. senators, four of them Republicans. Kelly, once sworn in, will be the sixth.
[UPDATE]: Election Forecaster Nate Silver On Fox News, AP Calling Arizona For Biden: ‘Should Be Retracted Now’