First posted on Instagram · @profilopolitics
The Associated Press called the race for Crane on Monday, November 9, six days after Election Day, with Crane leading Nez 49.7 percent to 48.5 percent — a margin of 3,834 votes, with nearly 99 percent of precincts reporting. Decision Desk HQ put the count at 163,286 votes for Crane and 159,762 for Nez.
The result gives Crane, a former Navy SEAL, a third term in the House. He first won the seat in 2022, defeating Democratic incumbent Tom O'Halleran, and beat Nez in a rematch in 2024. The sprawling district includes Prescott and Flagstaff and leans Republican, with a Cook Partisan Voting Index of R+6.3.
Nez, a former president of the Navajo Nation, has not conceded the race. His most recent social media post, from November 5, said that counting every ballot "takes time" in the large district.
Crane's win came even as Democrats surged statewide, flipping two U.S. House seats and winning control of the Arizona Legislature for the first time since 1966.
The post pairs the race call with Crane's declaration that "America must never become a nation of Sharia law." In January 2026, Crane was named a founding member of the Sharia-Free America Caucus in Congress, which seeks to ban Sharia law. He said at the time: "this authoritarian ideology cannot coexist with Western values. It's imperative that we learn from Europe's failed policies and never surrender to this growing threat." The Council on American-Islamic Relations has designated the caucus an anti-Muslim hate group, saying its agenda "would effectively ban the practice of the world's second largest religion in the United States."
Crane thanked rural Arizonans after the race was called and acknowledged Nez for returning to the race, writing: "I'm going to keep fighting against the status quo in Congress."
Join us on Telegram — t.me/profilopoliticsnews