The Daily Agenda: Big names head toward big wins in primary election

Conover wins, Nanos has big lead ... Surprise in justice of the peace race ... Now it's $40 million missing from Santa Cruz County.

Big-name incumbents had healthy leads late Tuesday as Pima County voters cast their ballots in the primary election.

In the most-watched local race of the year, incumbent County Attorney Laura Conover had a huge lead Tuesday evening, 67%-33%, over challenger Mike Jette, according to early election results.

No Republicans are running and Jette conceded the race Tuesday night, the Tucson Sentinel reported, so Conover is set to be the county’s top prosecutor for another four years.

The sheriff’s race also attracted a lot of attention and incumbent Sheriff Chris Nanos beat Sandy Rosenthal in the Democratic primary (61%-39%). In the Republican primary, Heather Lappin had the edge on Bill Phillips (45%-40%) and Terry Frederick was in third with 15%. (Interestingly, the New York Times called this race.)

Pima County supervisors

District 1: Incumbent Supervisor Rex Scott was cruising past challenger Jake Martin (67%-33%) in the Democratic primary. Republican Steve Spain was unopposed.

District 2: John Backer also had a huge lead over Beatrice Cory Stephens (62%-38%) in the Republican primary. Democratic Supervisor Matt Heinz ran unopposed.

District 3: Jennifer Allen was far ahead of the three other Democrats in the race. Allen had 54% of the vote, followed by Edgar Soto (19%), April Hiosik Ignacio (15%), and Miguel Cuevas (11%). Republican Janet Wittenbraker was unopposed.

District 4: Republican Supervisor Steve Christy ran unopposed, as did Democrat Vanessa Bechtol.

District 5: Democratic Supervisor Adelita Grijalva is the only candidate in the race.

Over in the county treasurer race, Brian Johnson had a big lead over Sami Hamed in the Democratic primary (61%-39%). Republican Chris Ackerley was unopposed.

While justice of the peace races don’t generally get a lot of attention, this year one of those races was the most surprising in the county. Renee Ann Garza was way ahead of incumbent Kendrick Wilson in the justice of the peace race in Precinct 9 (66%-33%).

The Pima County Elections department directs people to this website for election results. Can you find the link that takes you to county results? (It really is in there)

State Legislature

Local legislative races didn’t have a lot of surprises, but the Republican primary in Legislative District 17 and the Democratic primary in Legislative District 21 were still a little tight Tuesday evening.

LD17: Former Sen. Vince Leach had a slight lead over incumbent state Sen. Justine Wadsack (51%-49%). In the House races, incumbent Rep. Cory McGarr led with about 40%, followed by incumbent Rep. Rachel Jones (31.93%) and challenger Anna Orth (27.46%).

LD21: Incumbent Rep. Consuelo Hernandez had a big lead in the Democratic primary for two House seats (43%), while incumbent Rep. Stephanie Stahl Hamilton was neck-and-neck with challenger Briana “Breezy” Ortega (29.04%-27.48%).

Congress

Incumbent U.S. Rep. Juan Ciscomani was projected to beat challenger Kathleen Winn (62%-38%) in the Republican primary in Congressional District 6. Democrat Kirsten Engel ran unopposed.

In Congressional District 7, Democratic incumbent Rep. Raul Grijalva and Republican Daniel Butierez both ran unopposed in their primaries.

The early results Tuesday evening showed about 174,000 Pima County voters cast ballots in the primary election. That included 148,000 early ballots and 23,400 on election day (which will grow overnight as election-day ballots are processed). Turnout was a little over 24%.

If you’re curious to see the numbers for yourself, you can look through the election results so far and track how many ballots have been returned.

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This story was supported by the Local News Initiative of Southern Arizona, a fund of the Community Foundation for Southern Arizona.

Working the polls: The Arizona Luminaria’s reporters spent time at voting centers around the state yesterday, talking with community members about their voting experience and more. In South Tucson, reporter John Washington spoke with mayoral candidate Herman Lopez, who was offering water and donuts to voters outside of the Sam Lena library and write-in constable candidate Gerard Acuña was talking with voters at El Pueblo.

Oops: The Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors accidentally broadcast on YouTube a closed-door meeting with a fraud expert, who revealed that former treasurer Liz Gutfahr could actually be responsible for nearly $40 million in missing funds, the Nogales International’s Angela Gervasi reports. That’s much higher than the previously estimated $4 million reported in county emails. More than 70% of the missing money came from local school district budgets.

Supply and demand: Despite the high demand for real estate and push to create more affordable options in Tucson, there are fewer homes being built locally today than there were 20 years ago, the Arizona Daily Star’s Gabriela Rico writes. And even though homebuilders are working to keep up with the demand, there’s no indication home prices will drop any time soon. Experts predict the market could see more than 4,000 new home permits by the end of the year.

Backup plan: Law school graduates who narrowly failed the bar exam will have a chance to get experience before earning their law licenses through the Arizona Lawyer Apprentice Program, the Tucson Sentinel’s Natalie Robbins reports. The program was announced last week by the court and is aimed at graduates who scored within 10 points of passing the bar exam. They’ll work in rural communities or public law offices for two years before becoming licensed to practice on their own.

Up and down: The U.S. Attorney in Arizona prosecuted more than 2,600 migrants for illegally entering the country during the second quarter, despite a drop in the number of migrant apprehensions, Arizona Public Media’s Danyelle Khmara writes. That’s a 25% increase from the previous quarter. The office also prosecuted 53 drug cases from seizures and 300 cases against people accused of smuggling undocumented migrants.

Top three: Tucson muralist Joe Pagac talks with This is Tucson’s Sierra Blaser about his three favorite murals. Pagac, who has painted countless murals around town, says his favorites are “Epic Rides,”Sky Islands” and one of his more recent pieces featuring desert critters dining in cactus-shaped hot air balloons.

787: The number of ballots cast at the Oro Valley Public Library on Tuesday, the highest total for any voting center in Pima County.