By Ryan Randazzo || Arizona Republic
The Republicans in the race for two seats on the Arizona Corporation Commission are maintaining their leads, according to results released Wednesday evening.
Democrat Sandra Kennedy is the only incumbent on the ballot for the commission. She and fellow Democrat Lauren Kuby are in the race against Republicans Kevin Thompson and Nick Myers.
Thompson and Myers took the lead in the race early Wednesday and have maintained it with subsequent releases of results. If the lead for both holds, it will give Republicans an additional seat on the commission and a 4-1 majority over a lone Democrat.
Thompson, a Mesa councilman, teamed up with Nick Myers, a Republican policy adviser at the commission, traveling the state together to reach voters.
Thompson said if he wins, his first order of business at the commission would be to improve the regulatory environment for utilities, which he said is “terrible.”
“What’s happened over the years is not only regulatory creep by the commission but … rules being changed midstream, and there is no certainty in that regulatory environment,” Thompson said on Election Day.
One of the more controversial decisions recently at the commission was a vote last year to slash the profitability of Arizona Public Service Co. Ratings agencies began downgrading the company before the decision was final. The company has sued over that decision.
