Incumbents win for Pima County Board; Gowan, Antenori win slots in LD 30

Incumbent Democratic Pima County Supervisors Sharon Bronson and Ramon Valadez, who represent parts of Sahuarita, won their primary races, meaning Valadez is virtually assured of election and Bronson will face unopposed Republican Barney Brenner in District 3 in November.

In Legislative District 30, Republicans David Gowan and Frank Antenori survived a four-way primary battle and will run for two state representative seats in November.

And Southern Arizona will have two candidates, Tucson Republican Marian McClure and Cochise County Democratic Supervisor Paul Newman, among the six surviving candidates seeking three seats on the Arizona Corporation Commission.

The primary races knocked out two Sahuarita-area candidates, County Board hopeful Robert Robuck and state representative candidate Sharon Collins. That left on the November ballot state representative candidate Andrea Dalessandro, from Sahuarita, and Green Valley state Senate candidate Georgette Valle.

Turnout was 20.73 percent, as 97,675 voters cast ballots out of the 471,187 who were registered.

There were about 13,600 Pima County votes still to be counted as of noon Thursday, probably not enough to change the outcome of any local races.

Bronson defeated Donna Branch-Gilby handily by a margin of 59.6 to 40 percent, or 5,452 votes to 3,661, with 97.8 percent of the county’s precincts (408 out of 417) reporting.

Meanwhile, Valadez cruised by Sahuarita Heights resident Robuck by a 69 percent to 31 percent margin, or 5,156 votes to 2,301. Robuck, a well owner, has been active in opposing the proposed Rosemont Copper mine in the Santa Rita Mountains.

Republican District 4 Supervisor Ray Carroll, who represents most of Green Valley, was unopposed in the primary and is unopposed in November.

In other County Board races, Republican Ann Day (District 1) survived a primary challenge from Joe Higgins and will be unopposed in November, while County Board Chair Richard Elias (District 5) was unopposed in both the primary and the general elections.

The County Board now has three Democrats and two Republicans, all from Tucson, and the partisan balance will hang on the outcome of the Bronson-Brenner race. That is a rematch of their tight 2000 race, when Bronson defeated Brenner by a 48 percent to 45.6 percent margin, or about 1,600 votes. In 2004, no Republican ran and Bronson easily defeated a Libertarian Party opponent.

Gowan (31.7 percent or 9,610 votes) and Antenori (23.6 percent and 7,151 votes) led the way in Legislative District 30, defeating Doug Sposito (22.8 percent and 6,922 votes) and Sahuarita resident and Deputy State School Superintendent Collins (21.9 percent and 6,656 votes). Antenori and Gowan next will face Dalessandro, who was unopposed, in a race to replace two outgoing Republican representatives, McClure and Jonathan Paton.

One of the outgoing District 30 representatives, Paton, is running for the LD 30 state Senate seat, which is being vacated by state Sen. President Tim Bee, who is running for an 8th Congressional District seat against incumbent Democrat U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.

Paton was unopposed in the GOP primary and in November faces Democrat Valle, who also was unopposed in the primary.

The other outgoing District 30 representative, McClure, was forced out by term limits, but won a berth in the November election for the Arizona Corporation Commission, drawing 106,223 votes, or 14.6 percent in a six-way race. With 99.8 percent of precincts reporting, in the GOP primary race she trailed only Bob Stump (155,906 votes and 21.5 percent) while the race for third seat was very tight, as Barry Wong (93,182 n 12.8 percent) had about a 1,000 vote lead statewide over John Allen (92,200 and 12.7 percent).

The Republican winners will face three Democrats: Sandra Kennedy (167,715 votes); Paul Newman (142,346), a Cochise County supervisor and human rights border activist, and Sam George (122,210).

The ACC has a five-member board that regulates water companies and other utilities, as well as financial companies and could have a say on local water pipelines. Its other two commissioners have terms that run through 2010.

The Pima County vote counting lagged far behind those in other counties, as county staff labored to comply with new security rules imposed after a lawsuit was filed alleging counting irregularities in the 2006 Regional Transportation Authority vote.

For example, at 11 p.m. on election night, the unofficial results from the Web sites of both Pima County and Arizona Secretary of State’s office showed only 23.2 percent of Pima County precincts reporting, while all other counties were reporting between 77.8 and 100 percent of precincts.

pfranchine@gvnews.com | 547-9738