Candidates for Pima County Attorney in 2020: From left, Jonathan Mosher, Laura Conover and Mark Diebolt.

 File photos

Attorney Laura Conover had a sizeable lead over two veteran prosecutors in the race to become the next Pima County attorney.

Conover had 57% of the vote and her closest competitor, Jonathan Mosher had 37%. Shortly before 10 p.m. Mosher conceded the race to Conover, who appears headed to replace longtime County Attorney Barbara LaWall, who did not run for-relection.

Prosecutor Mark Diebolt was third with 6%, according to unofficial and incomplete results from Pima County Elections Tuesday night.

Mosher released the following statement: โ€œTonight, the voters of Pima County have spoken. I congratulate Laura Conover and her supporters, and give my sincere thanks to everyone who worked so hard to bring our campaign of meaningful reform to the people. It has been an honor to serve the families of Pima County.โ€

Of the early results, Conover said, "I feel good. I am certainly thankful for what appears to be a real mandate from the community for our vision for reform.

"We are honoring the retirement of a 40-year administration, and thanking Ms. LaWall for her dedication to the community," said Conover.

"Now is a critical moment in time for us to move the system forward, recognizing that we must have a medical response to addiction as an illness so that we may focus our resources on the complicated cases of fraud and scam, domestic violence and the exploitation of vulnerable populations," Conover said.

The winner of the primary will become Pima County's top prosecutor โ€” the first new one in more than two decades โ€” since there is no Republican or other party candidates in the November general election.

Final results may not be known until Friday, or possibly into the weekend.

Conover is a criminal defense attorney who worked in superior and federal courts for more than a decade.

During the campaign, Conover said she has dedicated her career to defending the poor and advocating for victims. She said Tucson is behind on criminal reform there needs to be "a reframing of our priorities so that we have true outcome-based policies that are more responsible for the taxpayer and more humane."

Mosher is a veteran prosecutor of violent crimes who took leave from the county attorney's office to campaign to head the office.

Since 2005, Mosher has worked in the county attorney's office climbing from deputy county attorney to chief trial counsel to chief criminal deputy. He also is a felony training supervisor and trains prosecutors in Arizona and out of state.

Diebolt, also a veteran prosecutor of violent crimes, is on leave from the county attorney's office while he campaigned to lead it.

Conover, Mosher, and Diebolt all campaigned as advocates for criminal justice reform and favor treatment rather than jail for drug addicts arrested for low-level drug possession.

The three also said they do not favor the death penalty.

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