The Arizona Republic

Democrat Sandra Kennedy and Republican Justin Olson maintain their leads.

- Corporatio­n Commission:

Democrat Sandra Kennedy and Republican Justin Olson maintained their leads in the race for two seats on the Arizona Corporatio­n Commission in the latest election returns released Tuesday.

Kennedy on Friday surpassed Republican Rodney Glassman, and following a large batch of votes from Maricopa County on Saturday she overtook Olson, whom Gov. Doug Ducey appointed to the commission last year and who had led the four-way race since Tuesday.

Kennedy’s campaign released a statement late Tuesday declaring victory in the race.

“After reviewing today’s ballot count update, Sandra Kennedy is pleased to claim victory in her campaign to return to the Arizona Corporatio­n Commission, noting that she received the most votes in a four-way race,” the statement said.

Kennedy’s statement also thanked “Republican, Independen­t and Democratic voters” for supporting her campaign against “corruption” at the commission and to promote solar energy.

The race has not been called by the Associated Press or the Arizona Republic, as thousands of votes remained to be counted as of late Tuesday.

On election night, the AP projected that Olson and Glassman would each win four-year terms. On Saturday, the news organizati­on retracted its call, saying no new call will be made until the results of the election are certified by Arizona officials.

Counties have tallied more votes since Saturday, but they haven’t affected the respective leads in the race.

Kennedy leads by more than 10,000 votes over Olson, while the race between him and Glassman for the second seat is a tighter margin of about 4,000 votes.

The Arizona Republic is estimating about 145,000 ballots remain to be counted statewide, with about 126,000 of those in Maricopa County. Kennedy and Olson are leading in that county so far.

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