Kyrsten Sinema Defeats Martha McSally in U.S. Senate Race, Becomes First Female Senator From Arizona

The results are in and Arizona has elected its first Democrat to the United States Senate since 1994.

Kyrsten Sinema was declared the winner of the race on Monday evening, defeating Republican Martha McSally, the Associated Press reported.

Sinema's win comes after a vote count that took nearly a week. However, Sinema had held an advantage of around 30,000 votes over McSally heading into the holiday weekend. That lead grew to 38,000, or a 1.7 percent, as more final tallies were released on Monday.

About 190,000 ballots remained to be counted in the race but to win McSally would need at least 20 points to have a chance at upsetting Sinema. The improbable percentage led the Associated Press to call the race.

"I just called Kyrsten Sinema and congratulated her on becoming Arizona's first female senator after a hard-fought battle," McSally said in a video posted to her Twitter account.

Sinema is the first woman from Arizona elected to the U.S. Senate. She replaces Republican Sen. Jeff Flake who chose not to run for reelection.

The win for Sinema cements Arizona's position as a swing state and closes the margin that Republicans hold in the U.S. Senate with two races still remaining. Florida's U.S. Senate race between Republican governor Rick Scott and Democrat Bill Nelson is currently in the midst of a recount while Mississippi's special election for U.S. Senate is headed for a runoff between Republican Cindy Hyde-Smith and Democrat Mike Espy.

Should Democrats take the two remaining seats, they would be outnumbered by Republicans 51-49 in the Senate. The Democratic Party flipped enough seats in the 2018 midterms to control the House of Representatives 227-198 with ten races still undecided.