With the primary wrapped up (in most cases), the general election matchups are set
Last week's primary winnowed the field and set up the candidates for the Nov. 4 general election.
Arizona Treasurer Doug Ducey outpaced the other five Republicans in the GOP race for governor, so he'll be facing Democrat Fred DuVal, Libertarian Barry Hess and American Elect nominee John Mealer. Polls are showing a tight race between Ducey and DuVal. (For more on that contest, see "Dead Heat," page 4.)
Former county, state and federal prosecutor Mark Brnovich managed to knock out incumbent Attorney General Tom Horne, who was hamstrung by a series of scandals during his four years in office. Brnovich will face Democrat Felecia Rotellini, who narrowly lost to Horne four years ago.
Horne wasn't the only incumbent Republican to lose on Election Day. Embattled State Superintendent of Public Instruction John Huppenthal lost to the little-known Diane Douglas, a former Peoria Unified School District governing board member and staunch opponent of the Common Core learning standards. Douglas will face Democrat David Garcia, an associate professor at ASU and the former associate superintendent of public instruction for standards and accountability for the state of Arizona.
Other big matchups this year include:
Arizona Secretary of State: State Sen. Michele Reagan defeated state Rep. Justin Pierce and Wil Cardon to advance to the general election, where she'll face former Arizona attorney general Terry Goddard.
Congressional District 2: Martha McSally captured 69 percent of the vote in her three-way primary against political newcomers Shelley Kais and Chuck Wooten, setting up an expected rematch against incumbent Democratic Congressman Ron Barber. Barber narrowly defeated McSally in 2012 and the close voter-registration numbers in CD2, which is split just about evenly between Republicans, Democrats and independents, is making the race one of the most closely watched in the country.
Congressional District 1: It took almost a week to declare a winner in the GOP primary with House Speaker Andy Tobin maintaining a lead of a few hundred votes over rancher Gary Kiehne to face Congresswoman Ann Kirkpatrick, a Democrat who won election to Congress in 2008, lost in 2010 and won again in 2012. Kirkpatrick announced last week that she would spend $1.7 million on TV ads between now and Election Day; the National Republican Congressional Committee began running attack ads against Kirkpatrick this week.
Legislative District 9 House of Representatives: Legislative District 9, which includes the Catalina Foothills, Casas Adobes area and north-central Tucson, is one of the most competitive districts in the state. It's now represented by Democrat Victoria Steele and Republican Ethan Orr, but Democrats hope to take both seats with the candidacy of Dr. Randy Friese, a trauma doc who was on hand when the victims of the Jan. 8, 2011, mass shootings began to arrive at University Medical Center.
