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By EMILY RICHARDSON
Cronkite News

WEST VALLEY – Early voting may decide whether the conservative 8th Congressional District will continued to be represented by a Republican or tip toward a Democrat, but people still trickled into the polls Tuesday to cast their ballots.

State lawmaker Debbie Lesko, a Republican and election veteran and Dr. Hiral Tipirneni, an emergency-room doctor and Democrat running for office for the first-time, are vying for a Congressional position vacated after a #MeToo scandal led Rep. Trent Franks to resign.

Franks, R-Glendale, resigned in December after the House Ethics Committee launched an investigation into accusations he had asked female staffers to be potential surrogates. Franks served as congressman for the dominantly Republican district for 14 years.

As of Tuesday morning, roughly 154,000 early voting ballots had been recorded with more than 48 percent of the turnout being from Republicans, according to the Arizona Secretary of State’s office.

“I’m just excited that the district has come alive, it’s energized, it feels like it has a chance to really have a voice and representation,” Tipirneni said Tuesday morning after casting her vote. “The district has the ability to make a difference, not just for our own West Valley but for Arizona and the country because this has been about the issues and I think it has been a very unique race in that way.”

Lesko tweeted this morning thanking House Speaker Paul Ryan for calling her and wishing the fellow Republican a win in the election.

Polling places opened at 6 a.m. and will close at 7 p.m., with results expected to come in Tuesday night.

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