Ducey, Horne lead statewide candidates in spending

Doug Ducey

Doug Ducey reported spending $581,000 on the Republican primary for state treasurer, more than any state-level candidate except for Buz Mills’ defunct gubernatorial campaign.

Ducey, the former CEO of Cold Stone Creamery, spent $100,000 in the week before the Aug. 10 trigger report was submitted to the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office. Partly due to the spate of television ads he’s aired, Ducey has spent more than every state treasurer candidate from the past two election cycles combined in his four-way primary.

The attorney general’s race also featured a couple of big spenders, according to recent trigger reports. Attorney general candidate Tom Horne reported spending $502,000 in his GOP primary battle against former Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas, and Democrat Felecia Rotellini reported spending $352,000.

Horne and Rotellini are both running against publicly funded candidates in their respective primaries. Thomas got $183,000 in Clean Elections funding, though his campaign got a recent boost from television ads run by Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, a close ally of his, in which the sheriff accuses Horne of supporting amnesty for illegal immigrants.

Rotellini faces two Clean Elections candidates in the Democratic primary, House Minority Leader David Lujan and former state prosecutor Vince Rabago.

Ducey’s spending may turn the treasurer’s race into Arizona’s most expensive state-level race. If he wins the Republican nomination he will face Democrat Andrei Cherny, who has already reported raising more than $500,000.

Only one state-level candidate has spent more than Ducey. Mills spent $3.2 million of his own money in his bid for the GOP nomination for governor, though he suspended his campaign in July after incumbent Gov. Jan Brewer took a commanding lead in the primary polls.