Early election results show that Republican challenger Mark Napier is holding a steady lead over Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos.
Napier was leading Nanos 55 percent to 45 percent.
"We've got a good lead with the early ballots so far, and I'm feeling confident as the night goes on we'll see more of the same," Napier said, adding that he had been expecting the results to lean in his favor.
If elected, he said that his first priority is to do a "cultural reset" in the Sheriff's department to help restore morale.
"To the people who have been given a black eye by all the nonsense that’s been going on and the high-level people who felt under-appreciated and often mistreated by the current administration, we’re going to lift them back up," Napier said.
Republican Mark Napier delivers victory speech to be next Pima County Sheriff #TucsonVotes pic.twitter.com/zCKctk0TbD
— Julianne Stanford (@Jules_Stanford) November 9, 2016
Nanos, a Democrat, was appointed to the position by the board of supervisors in July 2015, to complete the term of longtime Sheriff Clarence Dupnik.
He could not be reached for comment regarding the early returns.
Pima County Elections Director said Tuesday night that as many as 40,000 mail-in ballots won't be counted tonight, as they still need to be verified.
Napier challenged Dupnik in the 2012 election, coming in with 46 percent of the vote to Dupnik’s 51 percent.
During the past several months, allegations of an FBI investigation into misuse of public funds have swirled around Nanos and other members of the department's command staff.
At the end of September, his second-in-command, Chief Deputy Chris Radtke, was indicted on seven felony counts of conspiracy and theft of $500,000 of federal funds, after the FBI found evidence that he used money intended for crime fighting for unrelated purchases.
Napier received endorsements from the Pima County Deputy Sheriff's Association, Tucson Police Officers Association and the Pima County Corrections Officers Association. In September, the deputies' union expressed a vote of no confidence in Nanos and reported a record number of votes by members.
In other races:
- Longtime Democratic Pima County Attorney Barbara LaWall easily won another term over challenger Green Party candidate Cyndi Tuell, earning 71 percent of the vote.
- In the race for Pima County Assessor, Democrat Bill Staples defeated Independent Suzanne Droubie, with 66 percent of the vote.
- Pima County Recorder F. Ann Rodriguez, a Democrat, has earned 80 percent of the vote over Green Party candidate Mike Cease.
