Douglas Wolf Mike Cruz assessor
Douglas Wolf, the Incumbent assessor in Pinal County, was reelected Tuesday in a race with challenger Mike Cruz.

Douglas Wolf didn’t take anything for granted in his bid for re-election as Pinal County assessor. So, his 28-point margin of victory over Mike Cruz on Primary Election Day was more a relief.

“Obviously, I was pleasantly surprised with the results,” he said. “And I won. I think voters looked at not only experience but my resume and the messaging and decided that I should stand for another term.”

Outside of supervisors’ races, the county assessor’s election was the only county race with primary competition. The other seats up for election – county attorney, sheriff, county superintendent, recorder and treasurer – are all occupied by Republicans who have no Democratic competition in the General Election, either.

“With 64% percent approval by the voters, I think I’ll keep doing what I have been doing,” Wolf said. “The public, who ultimately gets to decide, have approved of my performance.”

Cruz had tried to cast Wolf as “a typical tax and spend California politician.” He conceded Tuesday night and congratulated Wolf on his win.

“I’m really thankful for the opportunity to be in this situation, to have come this far,” Cruz told his supporters in a posted video. “While we have lost this race, we have not lost the idea of hope and what our messaging does. And that’s representing your voice.”

Wolf is looking ahead to what he hopes is a time of economic growth in Pinal County.

“There’s just so many exciting things happening with the new businesses that should help reduce property taxes for homeowners in the sense we’re getting manufacturing-type plants and businesses in the Casa Grande area and I hope in the Maricopa area at some point. We should generate really great property tax valuation.”

He said Pinal County is in transition from being based on agriculture and retirees to an economy based on manufacturing.

“And that’s a good thing, I think,” he said. “We’re ideally situated for it, and I look forward to being a part of it. It should be fun.”