The nasty Republican race to replace the disgraced Rep. Trent Franks is now in the hands of voters and will come to an end Tuesday in Arizona.
GOP voters are choosing between 12 candidates to fill Franks' seat, but the front-runners have been mired in controversies of their own.
Conservative state senators Steve Montenegro and Debbie Lesko have been at the top of the polls, and Montenegro's sexting scandal didn't surface until many Arizonans had already sent in early-voting ballots.
It adds to the drama — and anxiety of Republicans on the Hill — of who will advance to the April 24 special election to replace Franks, who resigned abruptly in the wake of his own scandal, where he is accused of offering $5 million to an aide to have his baby.
Republicans fear another Roy Moore-Alabama type of loss if Montenegro were to win the GOP primary.
Democratic voters are deciding Tuesday between physician Hiral Tipirneni and LGBT rights activist Brianna Westbrook, neither of whom should come close to any Republican candidate in the general election.
However, that was also the case in Alabama where Moore lost to Democrat Doug Jones in the wake of a slew of allegations of sexual misconduct against the staunch conservative and former state Supreme Court judge.
"The chaotic GOP primary has allowed our Democratic candidates to demonstrate that they're the adults in the room," Arizona Democratic Party spokesman Enrique Gutierrez told AZCentral. "Regardless which scandal-plagued career politician wins the GOP primary, the people of the Eighth Congressional District will not support a Social Security - and Medicare-slashing, Paul Ryan rubber stamp."
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