Mary Beth Faller

The Republic | azcentral.com

A former school-board member who quietly ran on a single issue — the repeal of Common Core standards — has apparently won the election for state superintendent of public instruction.

Republican Diane Douglas had maintained a narrow lead over Democrat David Garcia since Tuesday's election as early and provisional ballots continued to be counted. The Associated Press determined Sunday that Garcia could not overcome the 18,000-vote difference even with the uncounted ballots.

The most recent results posted on the Secretary of State's website, on Sunday afternoon, showed Douglas ahead 50.59 percent to 49.35 percent. There were also 787 write-in votes statewide for other candidates.

"Obviously, we are very pleased with the outcome of the election," Douglas said Sunday. "It's a great victory for the parents of Arizona who want to be involved in the education of their children."

Garcia has not conceded. His campaign spokeswoman said there would be no statement on Sunday.

Douglas, 58, a former financial analyst, served on the Peoria Unified School District governing board for eight years.

She defeated the incumbent, John Huppenthal, in the primary. She has been an outspoken opponent of the Common Core standards in place in Arizona schools, advocating their repeal. Her campaign had been decidedly low-key.

Garcia, 44, a former associate superintendent in the state Department of Education, is an associate professor of education at Arizona State University who had drawn support from several business groups and prominent Republicans.

He defeated high-school English teacher Sharon Thomas in the Democratic primary. He supports Common Core.

The results showed a close race in Maricopa County, with Garcia garnering about 800 more votes than Douglas out of about 821,000votes counted, according to results posted on the county website Sunday.

According to the latest results, Garcia won in Coconino, Navajo, Apache, Santa Cruz and Greenlee counties and was leading in Pima County, which was still counting thousands of ballots over the weekend. Douglas had decisive leads in Pinal, Yavapai, Mohave, Yuma, Graham and Cochise counties and also won La Paz and Gila.

The Secretary of State's Office reported on Friday afternoon that more than 120,000 early and provisional ballots still had not been counted.

The winner of the election will take over as superintendent on Jan. 1, leading the state Department of Education, whose 560 employees oversee more than 60,000 public-school teachers.

Douglas' victory would complete a GOP sweep of top state offices in the 2014 general election. Republican candidates also prevailed in the races for governor, attorney general, secretary of state, treasurer and two seats on the Corporation Commission.