Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos leads with 55% of votes counted so far

Incumbent Chris Nanos shows an early lead for Pima County sheriff with 54.8% of the votes counted so far, while his Republican counterpart Heather Lappin trails with 45.2%, according to early results on the Pima County election website.

Nanos, a Democrat, has 143,389 votes so far, while Lappin has 118,270 votes, according to result details. The voter turnout stands at 41.40% with 274,205 ballots cast out of 662,357 registered voters in Pima County.

Nanos, who has four decades of law enforcement experience and four years of experience being sheriff, was appointed sheriff in 2015 after Clarence Dupnik retired after 28 years at the helm. Nanos lost the post to Republican Mark Napier in 2016, but won it back in 2020. He says his goal has been his focus on criminal investigations, including violent crimes, sex crimes and narcotics interdiction.

Lappin, who’s worked with the Sheriff’s Department for the past 19 years, is commander of the east section at the Pima County Adult Detention Center. She started her career in 2004 as a deputy sheriff and went on to become a sergeant in 2015 and a lieutenant in 2019. 

If she wins, Lappin would be the first elected female sheriff not just in Pima County, but in the state of Arizona.

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The general election race has been controversial in its tone. 

Nanos recently suspended Lappin and a sergeant who leads a union in the Sheriff’s Department. Lappin was placed on paid administrative leave, which required her to stay home during work hours, on Nanos' accusations she colluded with a reporter for stories critical of the jail. The reporter's publication strongly denied this. 

Additionally, sheriff's Sgt. Aaron Cross was also suspended, for campaigning for Lappin while dressed in a way that made him look like a deputy, after which Cross filed a lawsuit contending Nanos was violating his free speech. U.S. Federal Judge Raner Collins asked the Sheriff's Department to better explain its rules on what employees can wear while participating in political activities.