Former Congresswoman Ann Kirkpatrick emerged as the Democratic nominee on Tuesday night, ending an ugly Congressional District 2 race.
While there were still thousands of ballots uncounted in Pima and Cochise Counties, Kirkpatrick emerged with a sizable lead over her nearest rival, emergency-room doctor Matt Heinz.
Early results had Kirkpatrick with 41 percent of the vote, while Heinz had roughly 31 percent of the vote in the seven-person Democratic primary.
Retired Assistant Secretary of the Army Mary Matiella was essentially tied for third place with former state Rep. Bruce Wheeler, with both getting about 9 percent of the vote. Businessman Billy Kovacs had nearly 6 percent of the vote, rancher Barbara Sherry had about 3 percent of the vote and attorney Yahya Yuksel had about 1 percent of the vote.
Kirkpatrick said Tuesday night that her message resonates with voters.
βWe campaigned on protecting Pima County families from a Washington, D.C., that has gone completely off the rails,β Kirkpatrick said at an election-night party.
A three-term congresswoman who moved from Flagstaff to Tucson last year, Kirkpatrick vowed sheβd work across the aisle to get important legislation passed.
βI am familiar with members of both parties and know how to work with both sides to get things done,β she said.
The seven-person primary was one of the ugliest in recent history, with attack ads flooding airwaves and social media channels, and nasty mailers filling mailboxes .
Heinz poured six figures into his campaign, backing a failed court challenge that asked a Maricopa County judge to weigh in on whether Kirkpatrick had misled residents on nomination paperwork that stated she lived in Tucson.
He also paid for a number of ads that attacked Kirkpatrick on her congressional voting record.
However, Heinz was outgunned financially by a number of national groups that got involved in the race early, including the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and Emilyβs List.
One estimate puts the amount of independent outside money coming into the Democratic primary in CD2 at least $450,000.
Kirkpatrick has also been bolstered by support from former Rep. Gabby Giffords and her husband Mark Kelly, who released an ad last November supporting the former Flagstaff Democrat. βI trust Ann to fight for Southern Arizona,β Giffords said in the ad.
The pair have been at a number of recent campaign events to support Kirkpatrick, saying they trusted her to help change gun laws in Washington D.C.
Kirkpatrick, who once had an A rating from the NRA, spent months on the campaign trail explaining to voters that she changed her mind on gun control in the aftermath of mass shooting that nearly killed Giffords and the Sandy Hook Elementary School mass shooting.
Marquez Peterson
leads in GOP primary
Meanwhile, the GOP primary race to replace Tucson Republican Martha McSally in Congressional District 2 continued to be too close to call Tuesday night.
The Tucson Hispanic Chamber of Commerce CEO Lea Marquez Peterson had a slight lead over her nearest rival, former Army intelligence professional Brandon Martin.
At 10 p.m., the Arizona secretary of state reported that Marquez Peterson had about 33 percent of the vote, compared to 30 percent of Republicans backing Martin.
Casey Welch, a former Peace Corps volunteer, had nearly 23 percent of the vote, and former city of Douglas Vice Mayor Daniel βDJβ Morales Jr. has about 15 percent of the vote.
The first into the race on the Republican side, Marquez Peterson took the unusual step to announce her candidacy before even before Rep. Martha McSally made it official that she was not seeking another term.
While she said she would challenge McSally directly, the move allowed Marquez Peterson to begin taking donations for the race, at a time when it was an open secret that McSally would run for the U.S. Senate seat held by Jeff Flake, who is retiring.
Marquez Peterson has kept a relatively low profile in the months leading to the primary and did not take part in several debates with her Republican rivals.
She has been supportive of President Trump, telling MSNBC that Trumpβs reference to MS-13 gang members as βanimalsβ several months ago was not a racist statement.
She said she supports increased border security, which could include a massive new wall touted by Trump.
βA wall could certainly be a part, along with increased technology, more Border Patrol at the border, along with balancing that with custom agents at the border to enhance trade,β Marquez Peterson told the Star.
