PHOENIX — Republican Mark Brnovich toppled Democrat Felecia Rotellini on Tuesday to become Arizona’s next attorney general after a campaign in which he promised to aggressively fight for stronger border security and push back against what he called overreach of the Obama administration.
Both candidates had touted their credentials as former prosecutors to become the state’s top law enforcement officer. Brnovich is a former state and federal prosecutor, while Rotellini served as an assistant attorney general and superintendent of the state banking department.
Brnovich stopped short of declaring victory in a speech in downtown Phoenix, telling backers at a GOP victory party that “things look good.” He went on to describe his upbringing as the son of immigrants from the former Yugoslavia as he proudly described the virtues of voting and freedom in the United States.
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Brnovich defeated scandal-plagued Attorney General Tom Horne in the Republican primary after focusing on the incumbent’s many legal issues in his first four years in office. Rotellini narrowly lost to Horne in the 2010 attorney general race.
Brnovich labeled Rotellini as soft on crime and lacking courtroom experience in prosecuting criminals. Rotellini said her opponent was an ideologue more concerned with right-wing politics than the job at hand, citing an email he sent to backers saying he would be “the pro-life” attorney general. Rotellini also touted her background handling complex civil litigation
The attorney general represents state agencies and is responsible for taking on civil rights, consumer protection and complex business fraud cases.
Both candidates said they would fight proposed Environmental Protection Agency carbon-emission rules that would hurt the state’s coal-fired power plants, they both pledged to fight Mexican cartels that smuggle people and drugs into Arizona.
Mark Brnovich, newly elected state attorney general, promised to fight for stronger border security.
Felecia Rotellini
