Who is winning the election? Kyrsten Sinema, Vernon Parker face off in Arizona's 9th District

PHOENIX - The bruising battle between former state Sen. Kyrsten Sinema and ex-Paradise Valley Mayor Vernon Parker for Arizona's 9th Congressional District showed no signs it would end easily.

Parker and Sinema were locked in a near dead heat as ballots were counted late Tuesday. Sinema was just slightly ahead and thousands of votes were still to be counted.

On Wednesday morning with 100 percent of the precincts reporting, Sinema leads Parker 47 percent to 46 percent with just over 2,000 votes separating them.

The race to represent much of Tempe and parts of Phoenix, Scottsdale, Paradise Valley, Mesa and Chandler featured two months of vicious campaign ads.

Parker has weathered Democratic criticism that he's a tea party radical who will hurt children by cutting the federal education department. Sinema has been called a radical too liberal for the newly created district.

Sinema talked to ABC15's Susan Casper Tuesday night from the Democratic watch party.

When asked about one of the "nastiest" races in the election cycle, Sinema said, "We go right past the muck and rely on common communication with voters ... door-to-door, on the phones. What really matters is personal communication."

She went on to say, "Folks know what they see on TV sometimes is a distortion, or a lie. The people of District 9 are ready for a representative who believes in common sense, and that's us."

Republicans have a slight registration advantage but both parties' totals are exceeded by independents.