The final provisional ballots cast on Tuesday August 24 for the Arizona primary have been counted, and the Secretary of State website has posted the final unofficial results (click here). Tom Horne prevailed by 899 votes over Andrew Thomas for the Republican nomination for Attorney General (out of a total of 555,699 votes cast in that race). State law (ARS 16-1661) would mandate an automatic recount should the vote total be less than 200 votes between these 2 contenders.

Horne declared victory yesterday August 30 on various news media, and Thomas finally conceded this morning August 31. Horne is the current Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction and Thomas is the former Maricopa County Attorney, and was the 2002 Republican nominee for this AG position (losing to Terry Goddard). Horne’s website: www.electtomhorne.com.

During the primary campaign, Horne accused Thomas of using his Maricopa County Attorney’s office to launch politically motivated prosecutions against his alleged enemies, even Superior Court Judges who ruled against him. Thomas, in turn, accused Horne of supporting amnesty for illegal border crossers, and criticized him for a lifetime trading ban imposed in the 1970s by the Securities and Exchange Commission, while in law school.

Horne now faces Democratic nominee Felecia Rotellini, a former Assistant Attorney General and former Superintendent of the State Banking Department, now the Department of Financial Institutions (DFI). Rotellini is in private practice and her website is: www.feleciaforarizona.com.

Rotellini faced off in a tough primary with State House Minority Leader David Lujan and former Assistant Attorney General Vince Rabago (former Chair of the Pima County Democratic Party). Rep. Lujan was in a close race with Rotellini on election night and was only losing by 350 votes, but the gap widened by August 26 to 3203 votes, when Lujan conceded. The final unofficial tally showed Rotellini received 2427 votes more than Lujan.

The upcoming Arizona Citizens Clean Elections Commission debate between Horne and Rotellini is scheduled for

September 08, 2010 (UPDATE:Debate canceled on 9/3/10 as neither candidate is participating in “clean” elections, further UPDATE 9/8/10 debate may be back on as “non clean elections.”)
Candidate Debate
7:00:00 PM – 7:30 PM
Televised on KAET Horizon Channel 8 (Phoenix)

Tom Horne

Felecia Rotellini