Here’s the latest report from the AZ Secretary of State (federal & state races), and the Pima County Elections Division (county races). Not including the uncontested primary races at this time, which can be accessed by the blue hyperlinks.

–U.S Senate (open seat)
Richard Carmona (D) 287737

Wil Cardon (R) 109646
Jeff Flake (R) 355573
Bryan Hackbarth (R) 19070
Clair Van Steenwyk (R) 28949

–CD 1
Wenona Benally Baldenegro (D) 18599
Ann Kirkpatrick (D) 33039

Patrick Gatti (R) 2647
Gaither Martin (R) 8775
Jonathan Paton (R) 28062
Douglas Wade (R), withdrawn 6599

–CD 2
Ron Barber (D), incumbent CD 8, 50380
Matt Heinz (D) 11025

Mark Koskiniemi (R) 11538
Martha McSally (R) 51734

–CD 3
Amanda Aguirre (D) 9484
Manny Arreguin (D) 3105
Raul Grijalva (D), incumbent CD 7, 24643

Blanca Guerra (L) 116

Gabriela Saucedo Mercer (R) 12474
Jaime Vasquez (R) 6622

–State Senate LD 3 (1 seat)
Olivia Cajero Bedord (D), incumbent LD 27, 9718
Maria Garcia (D) 4822

–State House LD 9 (2 seats)
Dustin Cox (D) 9500
Mohur Sarah Sidhwa (D) 11490
Victoria Steele (D) 11661

Ethan Orr (R 14144

–State House LD 10 (2 seats)
Stefanie Mach (D) 11525
Brandon Patrick (D) 7614
Bruce Wheeler (D), incumbent LD 28, 12235

Todd Clodfelter (R) 12181
Ted Vogt (R), incumbent LD 30, 14982

–Pima County:

Pima County District 1 Supervisor (open seat)
Mike Hellon (R) 7819
Stuart McDaniel (R) 2216
Ally Miller (R) 9232
Vic Williams (R) 5259

Nancy Young Wright (D) 16856

Pima County District 4 Supervisor
Ray Carroll (R), incumbent, 13793
Sean Collins (R) 10339

Pima County Sheriff
Terry Frederick (R) 10369
Vinson Holck (R) 9858
Chester Manning (R) 9896
Mark Napier (R) 28894
Walt Setzer (R) 7317

Clarence Dupnik (D), incumbent, 71677

Dave Croteau (G) 388

Pima County Superintendent
Linda Arzoumanian (R), incumbent, 33722
Mace Bravin (R) 28214

Congratulations to the winners of today’s AZ primary. I will be updating as the election results come in tonight and tomorrow. So stay tuned for the close race results.

Ron Barber

The Arizona Daily Star, The Tucson Weekly, and The Arizona Republic newspapers have all endorsed Democrat Ron Barber for the vacant U.S.House seat in CD 8 (which encompasses parts of Cochise, Pima, Pinal, and Santa Cruz Counties).

–The Tucson Weekly article on May 17 (click here), “Voters should pick trusted public servant Ron Barber to complete Gabrielle Giffords’ term”

–The Arizona Republic article on May 19 (click here), “Barber provides steady centrism district needs”

–The Arizona Daily Star article on May 27 (click here), “Barber for CD8: centrist, mature leadership on complex issues”

Congressional District 8 has been without a representative in the U.S.House since Democratic Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords resigned from the seat she held for 5 years, on January 25, 2012. She had been shot once in the head on January 8, 2011 and resigned to focus on her recovery.

The special primary for that CD 8 race was held on April 17, and 3 nominees emerged from that election: Ron Barber (D), Jesse Kelly (R), and Charlie Manolakis (G). Barber faced no opposition, Kelly defeated LD 30 State Senator Frank Antenori and political newcomers Martha McSally and Dave Sitton. Manolakis defeated write-in candidate Richard Grayson.

Kelly is the only one who has run for political office before, having won the Republican primary in August, 2010 for this same seat, defeating former LD 30 State Senator Jonathan Paton, political newcomer Brian Miller and perennial candidate Jay Quick. He then lost to 2 term incumbentCongresswoman Giffords by 4156 votes in November, 2012.

Former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords (and her retired astronaut husband Mark Kelly) have both endorsed Ron Barber, who was her District Director in Tucson for 5 years, and was also shot twice on January 8, 2011 in the Tucson Tragedy. (Mark Kelly is not related to Jesse Kelly).

Early voting began on May 17 for the special general election on June 12. Early ballots are being returned at a record rate. 187,614 early ballots were mailed out in Pima County, and CD 8 has 424,718 registered voters per AZ Secretary of State’s report of 3/1/12.

For a May 16 online debate/forum between the 3 candidates, log onto PBS-HD 6 (click here for my previous blog).

http://azpm.org/news/story/2012/4/6/1633-tucson-elections-ok/

Political reporter Christopher Conover at AZ Public Media had a good report (see above link) about the recent AZ Supreme Court ruling in favor of the City of Tucson’s city-wide, partisan elections (the only city left in the state with this system). In 2009 then – LD 30 State Senator Jonathan Paton (R) pushed through legislation which the Governor signed, to stop this practice, which has been in place via Tucson’s City Charter (and duly voted upon by the City voters). The City of Tucson appealed that legislation. It was a matter of local control by a City vs. whether the State Legislature could overrule the choice by City voters.

Consequently, with this ruling that 2009 law will not go into effect after all, and the next City election in Nov. 2013 will remain partisan (Democrat, Republican, Green, Libertarian, etc.) and the Councilmembers will run city-wide, though they have to live in their respective wards.

One argument against city-wide elections is the case of when a Councilmember can be elected by a majority of the voters of the City of Tucson, but lose in his/her own respective ward. But the argument for city-wide elections is that the 6 Councilmembers vote on issues affecting the entire City of Tucson.

Who’s up for election in 2013: Ward 3 Councilmember Karin Uhlich (D), Ward 5 Councilmember Richard Fimbres (D), and Ward 6 Councilmember Steve Kozachik (R).
Karin was first elected in 2005, and both Richard and Steve were elected in 2009.