2014 Arizona gubernatorial election


The 2014 Arizona gubernatorial election was held on November 4, 2014, to elect the governor of Arizona, concurrently with elections to the United States Senate in other states and elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections.
Incumbent Republican Governor Jan Brewer was term-limited and could not run for a second consecutive full term in office. After a competitive six-candidate primary, Republicans nominated Arizona State Treasurer Doug Ducey. Democrat Fred DuVal, the former chair of the Arizona Board of Regents, won his party's nomination unopposed. Ducey won the election with 53% of the vote.

Background

Democratic governor Janet Napolitano resigned on January 21, 2009, to be sworn in as Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. Since Arizona does not have a lieutenant governor, Secretary of State Jan Brewer was first in the state's gubernatorial line of succession and was sworn in as governor on the same day. She was elected to a full term in 2010, defeating Democrat Terry Goddard, the Arizona Attorney General, by 54% to 42%.
Brewer was term-limited in 2014, despite only serving one full term. This is because Arizona state law limits office holders to two consecutive terms regardless of whether they serve full or partial terms. In November 2012, Brewer declared she was looking into what she called "ambiguity" in Arizona's term-limit law to seek a third term. In February 2014, Brewer reiterated that she was considering running for re-election, but on March 12, 2014, she announced that she would not attempt to seek another term in office, which would have required what The Arizona Republic called a "long-shot court challenge".

Republican primary

The Republican primary campaign was widely characterised as being "bitter" and "nasty" and the $16.2 million spent by the six Republican candidates means that the 2014 election has already broken the record for most expensive gubernatorial race in state history, exceeding the 2002 election in which $9.2 million was spent during the primary and general election campaigns combined.

Candidates

Declared

Withdrew

Declined

Democratic primary

Candidates

Declared

Withdrew

  • Ronald Cavanaugh, Libertarian candidate for governor in 2010

Declined

Polling

Poll sourceDate
administered		Sample
size		Margin of
error		Ron
Cavanaugh		Fred
DuVal		Undecided
Behavior Research CenterJanuary 16–26, 2014?± ?12%18%72%

Poll sourceDate
administered		Sample
size		Margin of
error		Chad
Campbell		Fred
DuVal		Undecided
Myers ResearchMay 22–June 13, 2012?± ?31%18%51%

Third parties

Candidates

Declared

General election

Polling

With Bennett

Poll sourceDate
administered		Sample
size		Margin of
error		Ken
Bennett 		Fred
DuVal 		OtherUndecided
Public Policy PollingFebruary 28–March 2, 2014870± 3.3%37%33%—30%
Behavior Research CenterJanuary 16–26, 2014701± 3.8%26%22%—52%
SusquehannaNovember 27–December 4, 2013600± 4%38%33%—28%

With Jones

Poll sourceDate
administered		Sample
size		Margin of
error		Christine
Jones 		Fred
DuVal 		OtherUndecided
CBS News/NYT/YouGovJuly 5–24, 20143,778± ?45%34%13%7%
Public Policy PollingFebruary 28–March 2, 2014870± 3.3%33%37%—30%

With Melvin

Poll sourceDate
administered		Sample
size		Margin of
error		Al
Melvin 		Fred
DuVal 		OtherUndecided
Public Policy PollingFebruary 28–March 2, 2014870± 3.3%32%37%—31%

With Molina

Poll sourceDate
administered		Sample
size		Margin of
error		John
Molina 		Fred
DuVal 		OtherUndecided
Public Policy PollingFebruary 28–March 2, 2014870± 3.3%32%35%—33%

With Riggs

Poll sourceDate
administered		Sample
size		Margin of
error		Frank
Riggs 		Fred
DuVal 		OtherUndecided
Public Policy PollingFebruary 28–March 2, 2014870± 3.3%32%36%—31%

With Smith

Poll sourceDate
administered		Sample
size		Margin of
error		Scott
Smith 		Fred
DuVal 		OtherUndecided
Public Policy PollingFebruary 28–March 2, 2014870± 3.3%39%33%—28%
Behavior Research CenterJanuary 16–26, 2014701± 3.8%20%23%—57%

With Thomas

Poll sourceDate
administered		Sample
size		Margin of
error		Andrew
Thomas 		Fred
DuVal 		OtherUndecided
Public Policy PollingFebruary 28–March 2, 2014870± 3.3%35%40%—25%

Results

By congressional district

Ducey won six of nine congressional districts, including one that elected a Democrat.
DistrictDuValDuceyRepresentative
46.0%48.87%Ann Kirkpatrick
46.95%48.73%Martha McSally
56.31%38.77%Raúl Grijalva
27.43%66.84%Paul Gosar
32.64%62.83%Matt Salmon
37.56%58.27%David Schweikert
65.18%29.29%Ruben Gallego
33.64%61.2%Trent Franks
49.06%46.3%Kyrsten Sinema