Kimberly Yee leads Tom Horne in early Arizona election results

Kimberly Yee jumped out to a sizeable lead over incumbent Tom Horne in the race for the Republican nomination for Arizona's superintendent of public instruction as early election results continued to roll in the morning of July 22.

Yee told The Arizona Republic her campaign was feeling positive after the first results came in.

"There are still a lot of votes to count and every Arizonan deserves to have their voice heard," Yee said.

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In the Democratic race, Teresa Leyba Ruiz led by a wide margin against her opponent Brett Newby when the first batch of results dropped.

Polls closed at 7 p.m. on July 21. Early election returns came in from Maricopa County just after 8 p.m.

Results will be updated daily until all the votes are tallied. Arizona primary election results are unofficial until local and state officials have tallied all ballots and certified the results, typically days later.

After the first batch of results dropped, Ruiz said she was feeling energized and ready for the next step in the race for state superintendent. With Yee in the lead against Horne, Ruiz said she was ready and looking forward to engaging in debates with her.

"I am just honored and humbled from this outpouring of support," Ruiz said.

The race between Horne and Yee has been contentious, with the pair butting heads over the state’s Empowerment Scholarship Account program and diversity, equity and inclusion policies in education.  

For Democrats, the primary between Ruiz and Newby has been more subdued.

The winners will run against one another in the November election.

Horne, Yee run contentious race

Horne has a long history in education.

He began serving on the Paradise Valley Unified School District governing board in 1979, where he held a position for the next 24 years. He’s a veteran politician who served in the Arizona House of Representatives in the late 1990s before being elected as superintendent in 2003. He served two terms and left the office in 2011. He then won election as Arizona attorney general in 2010. He served in that role for four years before being elected superintendent again in 2022.  

Horne’s term has been plagued by controversy associated with the ESA program. Yee announced she would be running against Horne in 2025 after she was backed by Republican state Sen. Jake Hoffman, who has advocated for reducing restrictions on the program.  

Yee currently serves as state treasurer and was elected to the position in 2018. She also has had a lengthy career in politics. She was previously appointed to the Arizona House of Representatives in 2010 to fill a vacancy and was then elected to the Arizona Senate in 2013. 

The two clashed during a May debate, with Horne’s opening statement accusing Yee of sitting on a DEI committee at the National Association of State Treasurers and Yee accused Horne of failing to understand the statistics and figures associated with the job. They agreed that guardrails should be placed on the ESA program but disagreed on how.  

Yee, who is Chinese American, was also the subject of a racist political advertisement in June. The ad called her the "Empress of DEI" and used stereotypical typography and music associated with Chinese culture and a backdrop that featured the colors of the country's flag.

The ad's mandatory disclaimer says it was paid for by Arizonans for Election Integrity, with 100% of funding coming from out of state. Major funding was provided by Conservatives for Effective Government. Both are dark money groups, with few details available as to who funded the ad.

Yee accused Horne of being behind the ad, while Horne denied any involvement or communication with the group behind it. In a social media post, he requested that the ad be withdrawn, "or at least remove the references intended to appeal to ethnic prejudice."

Ruiz, Newby vie for the Democratic spot

Unlike their Republican counterparts, both Newby and Ruiz have emphasized the importance of DEI and dual language program. Both have been critical of the ESA program, with Ruiz particularly focusing her campaign on placing more guardrails within the program.  

Ruiz has had a lengthy career in education, working as a teacher at the middle and high school level before becoming president of Glendale Community College. Newby has worked as a behavioral analyst and professor, according to his campaign.  

During the Democratic debate, the two agreed on most issues, although Newby emphasized the importance of updating facilities in rural school districts.  

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Kimberly Yee leads Tom Horne in early Arizona election results