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Leach received 52% of the vote to Wadsack’s 48.4% in unofficial results. The Associated Press called the race Thursday morning.

Leach will now face Democratic nominee John McLean in the Nov. 5 general election.

“We’re excited and we’re going forward, ready to finish up this campaign,� Leach said Thursday. “I’m really looking forward to the opportunity of going back to the Senate, introducing bills and legislation and working with other legislators to get back to a balanced budget.�

Wadsack did not respond to multiple inquiries for comments.

Leach previously held the state Senate seat from 2019 until he lost to Wadsack in the 2022 GOP primary.

Wadsack recently made news when it was reported she had been being pulled over in March for going 71 mph in a 35-mph zone on Speedway Boulevard. She later claimed “political persecution.�

Leach campaigned as a more traditional conservative Republican candidate than Wadsack, who made headlines for turning her back to Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs during the 2023 State of the State remarks, doing a photoshoot at the Capitol while brandishing a machine gun, and sponsoring a bill to ban books about transgender and nonbinary teens despite not having read the book that inspired the legislation. Wadsack also “liked� social media posts spreading conspiracy theories about the 9/11 terrorist attack and the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, which claimed the lives of 19 elementary school students and two teachers.

The Pima County Democratic Party has already begun attacks on Leach, posting on Twitter, formerly X, a photo of the Republican nominee at a Stop the Steal rally in Washington, D.C.