Christy wins third term on Pima County board, Bechtol concedes

Steve Christy has been elected to his third term as supervisor in Pima County's District 4.

Christy will remain as the sole Republican on the board. He told the Star he received a call from Democratic challenger Vanessa Bechtol on Wednesday morning conceding the race.

"She was most gracious. She said she was proud of her campaign and she was especially proud that both of our campaigns were very civil and professional, kept to the issues and stayed completely away from any ad hominem attacks or personal slights," Christy said. "I have to say, she ran a very professional, dedicated and organized campaign. ... My estimation is that (Bechtol) is going to be going places in the Democratic Party."

Bechtol also conceded in a post on Facebook Wednesday morning, thanking her supporters and family.

"While I'm disappointed in the outcome, I am very proud of the race we ran. I congratulate Supervisor Christy," she said. "I will continue to be actively engaged in our community and find ways to work towards moving our county forward."

As of Wednesday at about 1:30 p.m., Christy led Bechtol by a margin of 5,097, receiving about 52.3% of the vote.

In other races for the Board of Supervisors, GOP candidates Steve Spain and John Backer failed to unseat the Democratic incumbents Rex Scott and Matt Heinz in Districts 1 and 2, respectively.

Janet "JL" Wittenbraker lost the open race for the District 3 seat, while independent Val Romero in District 5 failed to unseat Democratic incumbent Adelita Grijalva in District 5.

But a near-Democratic sweep of county supervisor seats doesn't concern Christy politically, he told the Star.

"It really doesn't because nothing has changed from my position and my place on the board from the last four years. ... I bring to the board a diversity of thought and opinion that obviously, the voters and residents of my district agree with and feel that I should be the one to represent that point of view," Christy said.

"I still feel that I'm an effective voice of reason and a voice of opposition, and a voice of common sense, and I think that's why I've been re-elected."

Sheriff's race tightens

There is one local Democratic incumbent still facing a close contest in his reelection bid: Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos.

By Wednesday afternoon, Nanos led Republican challenger Heather Lappin by 1,595 votes. That's a difference of just 0.2%.

His lead was 6,456 votes as of Sunday, down from 8,161 last Friday.

There were an estimated 42,228 uncounted ballots in Pima County, according to the Secretary of State's Ballot Progress page . That's as of Tuesday night, the last update the county made to the page.

For the state Senate, the race in Tucson area District 17, as of Wednesday afternoon, had Republican Vince Leach outpolling Democrat John McLean by 2,690 votes.

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