Arizona does Ducey, DeWit, Douglas

Republican Doug Ducey, will now face Democrat Fred DuVal, after winning his party’s nomination tonight. The biggest loser in the race was current Arizona Governor Jan Brewer who backed Scott Smith.

Ducey, currently Arizona’s Treasurer, heads out of a tough race with five contestants into the race against DuVal, a lobbyist, who faced no challengers. The chances of DuVal defeating Ducey, who won the support of the grassroots and some in the establishment, in the General Election are slim to none.

Michelle Reagan took the nomination for Secretary of State. Reagan defeated Justin Pierce and Wil Cardon, with the help of Brewer’s deep pockets. Reagan was rewarded for helping Brewer expand Obamacare in Arizona last year, while Reagan was serving in the Legislature. Reagan will now face perpetual candidate former Attorney General Terry Goddard in the General Election.

The Governor gave the political kiss of death to Randy Pullen, who lost to Jeff DeWit for the Republican Party’s nomination for Treasurer.

The greatest victory for the Republican grassroots occurred in the race for Superintendent of Public Instruction. Common Core opponent, Diane Douglas challenged incumbent John Huppenthal, a strong Common Core proponent, who was haunted by his anonymous online racist postings on obscure liberal blogs and tabloids. David Garcia beat out Sharon Thomas for the Democrat’s nomination. Despite the fact that Thomas was treated poorly by her party’s establishment, and given little  opportunity to win, she made a respectable showing against Garcia in the primary.

The race is too early to call, but the Governor pulled out all the stops to defeat incumbent Attorney General Tom Horne, who is facing a challenge in the primary by a former lobbyist for the private prison industry, Mark Brnovich. Brnovich lost in Pima County; an area needed for any contender in the General Election.

Tom Forese and Doug Little took the nominations for Corporation Commission, beating Vernon Park and Lucy Mason after an unusually ugly race that normally does not receive that much attention.

“The final batch of early ballot returns before Election Day was processed Friday, and stats from Maricopa and Pima counties show that independent turnout in the Republican primary is unlikely to fall below 14 percent,” reported the Yellow Sheet on Monday. “Indies account for 14.3 percent of the GOP ballots in Maricopa County and 14.9 percent in Pima County, for an aggregate total of 14.4 percent in the two most populous counties.”

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