Democratic Rep. Kyrsten Sinema has easily won her re-election bid in her Phoenix-area congressional district.
Sinema faced former Lt. Col. Wendy Rogers in her quest for a second term. She had a double-digit lead in early returns. Unofficial results late Tuesday night showed Sinema got 54 percent of the vote compared to Rogers' 42 percent. A Libertarian candidate received about 4 percent.
Sinema boasted of her track record in helping veterans and growing up in a household with two brothers in the military. In her campaign, the Tempe Democrat vowed to do more work to address problems within the Phoenix Veteran’s Affairs Hospital, where some vets waited months before they received medical treatments. She said wants to continue her work on that and other issues important to the state.
“I’m going to keep fighting to reform the VA system," she said. "We passed a good law that I sponsored earlier this year, but we have to implement it. We also have to make sure we are growing jobs and our economy here in Arizona and stand up for Arizona families."
Rogers, a former Air Force pilot, also promised to fix the VA hospital. She lost in the Republican primary in 2012 in the district.
Sinema took advantage of the slight Democratic majority in Congressional District 9, which covers a large chunk of eastern Maricopa County, including Tempe, Mesa, Scottsdale and south Phoenix.
The Associated Press and Steve Shadley contributed to this report.
Updated 11/5/14 at 12:45 a.m.