Arizona Attorney General election, 2014

Arizona Attorney General Election

Primary Date: August 26, 2014

General Election Date: November 4, 2014

Race rating: Lean Republican

November 4 Election Winner: Mark Brnovich

Incumbent prior to election: Tom Horne

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The Arizona Attorney General election took place on November 4, 2014, following a primary on August 26. Incumbent Tom Horne (R) was first elected in 2010 and sought re-election unsuccessfully in 2014. He was defeated by Mark Brnovich in the Republican primary.

After unseating Horne in the primary, Brnovich faced Democratic candidate Felecia Rotellini in the general election. Brnovich won election for a four-year term.

This race was notable for significant ad spending by outside groups, as detailed in the ad spending section. In 2014, Republican control over the attorney general's office was still a recent phenomenon, as Democrats held the seat from 1998 to 2010. Learn more about election results from recent races by jumping to the past elections section.

A primary election is an election in which registered voters select a candidate that they believe should be a political party's candidate for elected office to run in the general election. They are also used to choose convention delegates and party leaders. Primaries are state-level and local-level elections that take place prior to a general election. Arizona utilizes a semi-closed primary system. Unaffiliated voters may choose which party's primary they will vote in, but voters registered with a party can only vote in that party's primary.

For information about which offices are nominated via primary election, see this article.

Candidates

General election

Mark Brnovich
Felecia Rotellini
(Write-in) Anthony Camboni

Lost in the primary

Tom Horne - Incumbent

Results

General election

Attorney General of Arizona, 2014
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Mark Brnovich	52.9%	782,361
	Democratic	Felecia Rotellini	47.1%	696,054
	Nonpartisan	Anthony Camboni (Write-in)	0%	265
Total Votes				1,478,680
Election results via Arizona Secretary of State

Republican primary

Arizona Attorney General, Republican Primary, 2014
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Mark Brnovich	53.7%	279,855
Tom Horne Incumbent	46.3%	240,858
Total Votes		520,713
Election results via Arizona Secretary of State.

Democratic primary

• Uncontested

Race background

Incumbent Tom Horne, a Republican first elected in 2010, lost his bid for renomination in the August 26 Republican primary, creating an open seat race for the general election.

Midway through his first term as attorney general, Horne was the subject of an ongoing FBI investigation stemming from an alleged hit-and-run incident. This investigation led Horne to forgo his long-anticipated gubernatorial campaign in favor of seeking another term in his current post. These scandals led Governing to rate Arizona's attorney general seat as "vulnerable" to partisan switch in the 2014 elections.

Horne lost to Republican challenger Mark Brnovich by six points in the party's primary. Brnovich, the former director of the Arizona Department of Gaming, faced 2010 gubernatorial candidate and Assistant Attorney General Felecia Rotellini in the general election.

Although Arizona tended to vote Republican, especially at the state level, Democrats placed hopes in Rotellini early on in the election season. Rotellini's background as superintendent of the state Department of Financial Institutions signaled to party leaders that she had strong potential as a fundraiser and thus a chance in the race to succeed Horne as Arizona's chief legal official. She was ultimately defeated by Brnovich, ensuring the attorney general's office would remain under Republican control.

Debates

September 30 debate

Mark Brnovich (R) and Felecia Rotellini (D) participated in a debate hosted by public affairs program Arizona Horizon. Brnovich criticized Rotellini's lack of experience as a prosecutor while highlighting his past work as a county prosecutor and assistant U.S. Attorney. Rotellini countered that Brnovich did not understand that the attorney general's office doesn't handle prosecutions, which are handled by county attorneys.

Rotellini argued that Brnovich had attempted to bring ideology to the office, and criticized his support for private prisons. She also argued that his advocacy for pro-life positions was an unnecessary distraction for anyone aspiring to the office. Brnovich responded by pointing out the lack of partisan divide over private prisons, citing the Obama administration's advocacy for these types of facilities. He also suggested that Rotellini's criticism was hypocritical because she accepted contributions from private-prison operators.

Polls

General election polls

Arizona Attorney General, General election
Poll	Mark Brnovich (R)	Felecia Rotellini (D)	Undecided	Margin of error	Sample size
American Encore October 20-22, 2014	41%	38%	17%	+/-4	601
Arizona Free Enterprise Club October 13-16, 2014	48%	39%	13%	+/-4.5	500
Moore Information October 7-8, 2014	39%	42%	19%	+/-4.9	400
AVERAGES	42.67%	39.67%	16.33%	+/-4.47	500.33
Note: The polls above may not reflect all polls that have been conducted in this race. Those displayed are a random sampling chosen by Ballotpedia staff. If you would like to nominate another poll for inclusion in the table, send an email to editor@ballotpedia.org.

Primary polls

Arizona Attorney General, Republican primary
Poll	Mark Brnovich	Tom Horne*	Undecided	Margin of error	Sample size
Harper Polling August 19-20, 2014	40%	37%	24%	+/-3.44	812
Gravis Marketing July 14, 2014	44%	29%	27%	+/-4.0	691
Magellan Strategies July 9-10, 2014	39%	25%	36%	+/-4.02	593
AVERAGES	41%	30.33%	29%	+/-3.82	698.67
Note: The polls above may not reflect all polls that have been conducted in this race. Those displayed are a random sampling chosen by Ballotpedia staff. If you would like to nominate another poll for inclusion in the table, send an email to editor@ballotpedia.org.

Note: An asterisk (*) denotes incumbent status.

Past elections

2010

Attorney General of Arizona, 2010
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Tom Horne Incumbent	51.9%	870,483
	Democratic	Felecia Rotellini	48.1%	807,185
Total Votes				1,677,668
Election results via Arizona Secretary of State

2006

Attorney General of Arizona, 2006
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Terry Goddard Incumbent	60.2%	899,007
	Republican	Bill Montgomery	39.8%	595,317
Total Votes				1,494,324

2002

Attorney General of Arizona, 2002
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Terry Goddard	51.9%	623,135
	Republican	Andrew P. Thomas	45%	540,644
	Libertarian	Ed Kahn	3.1%	37,564
Total Votes				1,201,343

1998

Janet Napolitano (D) won election to the attorney general's office, placing ahead of Republican candidate Tom McGovern and Libertarian Party candidate Thomas Eblen.

Campaign media

Ad spending

The Republican Attorneys General Association (RAGA) and the Democratic Attorney Generals Association (DAGA) have played significant roles in the race for Arizona Attorney General. RAGA's Arizona election committee spent $1,757,961 on TV ads and direct mail pieces attacking Felecia Rotellini through October 20, 2014. The Grand Canyon Committee for Justice and Fairness, the campaign committee for DAGA, spent $287,665. Revitalize Arizona, a union-funded PAC supporting Rotellini, ran $450,000 in TV ads attacking Mark Brnovich prior to the general election.

Outside organizations

Republican Attorney Generals Association

RAGA ad: Felecia Rotellini: Dangerous Views (October 16, 2014)

Revitalize Arizona

Revitalizing Arizona ad (October 15, 2014)

Campaign finance

Comprehensive donor information for this election has been collected by Follow the Money. Based on available campaign finance records, the candidates raised a total of $4,179,433 during the election. This information was last updated on January 10, 2022.

Campaign Contribution Totals
Candidate	Office	Result	Contributions
Tom Horne	Arizona Attorney General		$810,197
Felecia Rotellini	Arizona Attorney General		$2,828,610
Mark Brnovich	Arizona Attorney General		$540,626
Anthony Camboni	Arizona Attorney General		$0
Grand Total Raised			$4,179,433

Key deadlines

Deadline	Event
May 28, 2014	Filing deadline for major party candidates
July 17, 2014	Filing deadline for write-in candidates (Primary)
August 26, 2014	Primary election
September 25, 2014	Filing deadline for write-in candidates (General)
November 4, 2014	General election
December 1, 2014	Official Canvass of general election results
January 5, 2015	Inauguration day for state executive officials in general election

Recent news

This section links to a Google news search for the term "Arizona + Attorney + General + Election + Horne"

Arizona attorney general election, 2014 News Feed

See also

• Arizona Attorney General
• Tom Horne
• Arizona state executive official elections, 2014
• State executive official elections, 2014
• State executive debates, 2014
• Preview of 2014's most competitive down ballot state executive races

External links

Suggest a link

• Office of the Attorney General of Arizona