Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos narrowly wins re-election

Nanos, a Democrat, beat his Republican rival Heather Lappin by 495 votes.

A recount is expected.

Nanos won about 50.1% of the votes cast in Pima County, unofficial results from the Secretary of State’s Office show. The county finished counting ballots about 10:45 a.m. Sunday, the results page shows.

The margin − 0.2% − is so tight that the Board of Supervisors will hold a special meeting Thursday for the county Elections Department to request a recount, the Star previously reported. A recount is required, according to state law, when a race’s margin is less than or equal to 0.5%.

Some 487,225 votes in the race were tallied through Sunday morning.

Lappin, a jail commander, had been gaining on Nanos since he started election night with a lead of over 25,000 votes when unofficial results were first released about an hour after the polls closed. By the Sunday after the election, his lead dropped to 6,456 votes.

And by Wednesday night, Nanos’ lead over Lappin dipped below 200 votes.

The general election race had been controversial in its tone.

Nanos suspended Lappin and a sergeant who leads a union in the Sheriff’s Department days before the election. Lappin was placed on paid administrative leave, which required her to stay home during work hours. Nanos accused her of colluding with a reporter on news stories critical of the jail. The reporter’s publication strongly denied the accusation.

The Board of Supervisors reacted last week when members voted unanimously to seek a “criminal review and investigation” into Nanos’ actions.

Supervisors voted to approach both the Arizona Attorney General’s Office and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Arizona about a potential investigation.