2022 Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction election

The 2022 Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction election took place on November 8, 2022, to elect the Superintendent of Public Instruction of Arizona. Incumbent Democratic Superintendent Kathy Hoffman was defeated in her run for a second term by former Republican Attorney General Tom Horne.^[1] Significantly, Horne's win marked the first time in the state's history that a Republican won a statewide race without winning Maricopa County, home to 62% of the state's population and a former Republican stronghold; the only other statewide 2022 Republican candidate to win that year, Kimberly Yee, won her race by a wide margin partly by carrying Maricopa County.

2022 Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction election

← 2018 November 8, 2022 2026 →

Nominee Tom Horne Kathy Hoffman Party Republican Democratic Popular vote 1,256,406 1,247,218 Percentage 50.2% 49.8%

County results Horne:      50–60%      60–70%      70–80% Hoffman:      50–60%      60–70%

Superintendent before election Kathy Hoffman Democratic Elected Superintendent Tom Horne Republican

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee

• Kathy Hoffman, incumbent superintendent^[1]

Results

Democratic primary results^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Kathy Hoffman (incumbent)	564,099	100.0%
Total votes			564,099	100.0%

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominee

• Tom Horne, former superintendent and former Arizona Attorney General^[3]

Eliminated in primary

• Shiry Sapir, real estate manager^[4]
• Michelle Udall, state representative from the 25th district^[5]

Did not file

• Michael Trevillion, assistant principal^[6][7]

Polling

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size^[a]	Margin of error	Tom Horne	Shiry Sapir	Michelle Udall	Other	Undecided
Rasmussen Reports	July 27–28, 2022	710 (LV)	± 4.0%	38%	18%	16%	6%	22%
OH Predictive Insights	July 27, 2022	502 (LV)	± 4.4%	21%	21%	14%	–	44%
OH Predictive Insights	June 30 – July 2, 2022	515 (LV)	± 4.3%	18%	7%	9%	–	66%
OH Predictive Insights	April 4–5, 2022	500 (LV)	± 4.4%	16%	2%	8%	7%^[b]	67%

Results

Republican primary results^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Tom Horne	321,208	41.92%
	Republican	Shiry Sapir	256,286	33.45%
	Republican	Michelle Udall	188,401	24.59%
	Write-in		258	0.03%
Total votes			766,153	100.0%

Libertarian primary

Candidates

Eliminated in primary

• Sheila Reid-Shaver, Maricopa County precinct committeeman (write-in)^[8]

Results

Libertarian primary results^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Libertarian	Sheila Reid-Shaver (write-in)	557	100.0%
Total votes			557	100.0%

General election

Polling

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size^[a]	Margin of error	Kathy Hoffman (D)	Tom Horne (R)	Other	Undecided
Data Orbital (R)	November 4–6, 2022	550 (LV)	± 4.3%	44%	49%	2%^[c]	6%
HighGround Inc.	November 1–2, 2022	500 (LV)	± 4.4%	41%	46%	1%^[d]	12%
Data Orbital (R)	October 17–19, 2022	550 (LV)	± 4.3%	43%	45%	2%^[e]	10%
HighGround Inc.	October 12–13, 2022	500 (LV)	± 4.4%	40%	43%	2%^[f]	14%

Certified results

2022 Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction election^[9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	Tom Horne	1,255,977	50.17%	+1.73%
	Democratic	Kathy Hoffman (incumbent)	1,247,010	49.82%	-1.74%
	Republican	Patrick Finerd (write-in)	213	0.01%	N/A
Total votes			2,503,200	100.0%

Recount

On December 5, 2022, following election certification, Secretary of State Katie Hobbs petitioned the Maricopa County Superior Court to initiate a recount for the Superintendent of Public Instruction election.^[10][11] On the same day, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Timothy J. Thomason ordered for the recount to begin.^[12] Although Hoffman had already conceded the election, the recount proceeded as the margin between the two candidates was 0.35%, which falls in the threshold to trigger an automatic recount.^[9]

On December 29, Thomason announced the results of the recount, confirming Horne as the winner with an increased margin of 9,188 votes.^[13]

Recount results

2022 Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction election^[14]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	Tom Horne	1,256,406	50.13%	+1.69%
	Democratic	Kathy Hoffman (incumbent)	1,247,218	49.76%	-1.80%
	Write-in		2,900	0.12%	+0.12%
Total votes			2,506,524	100.0%
	Republican gain from Democratic

By congressional district

Despite losing the state, Hoffman won 5 out of 9 congressional districts, including two that elected Republicans.^[15]

District	Hoffman	Horne	Representative
1st	51%	49%	David Schweikert
2nd	45%	55%	Tom O'Halleran (117th Congress)
			Eli Crane (118th Congress)
3rd	76%	24%	Ruben Gallego
4th	56%	44%	Greg Stanton
5th	43%	57%	Andy Biggs
6th	51%	49%	Ann Kirkpatrick (117th Congress)
			Juan Ciscomani (118th Congress)
7th	66%	34%	Raúl Grijalva
8th	44%	55%	Debbie Lesko
9th	36%	64%	Paul Gosar

See also

• 2022 Arizona elections

Notes

1. Key:
   A – all adults
   RV – registered voters
   LV – likely voters
   V – unclear
2. Kim Fisher with 4%, Kara Woods with 3%, Jennie Paperman with 0%
3. "Refused" with 2%
4. "Some other candidate" with 1%
5. "Refused" with 2%
6. "Some other candidate" with 2%

References

1. "Superintendent Kathy Hoffman announces re-election campaign". AZFamily. Retrieved May 13, 2021.
2. Arizona Secretary of State (August 22, 2022). "State of Arizona Official Canvass – August 2, 2022, Primary Election" (PDF). Retrieved August 26, 2022.
3. Pitzl, Mary Jo (May 13, 2021). "Tom Horne seeks return as state schools chief, citing slipping standards amid equity debate". The Arizona Republic.
4. "Local Conservatives to Host Shiry Sapir, Candidate for State Superintendent of Public Instruction | Prescott eNews". September 23, 2021.
5. "Udall takes step in run for schools chief". October 9, 2021.
6. Pitzl, Mary Jo. "School administrator seeks GOP nod for state superintendent". The Arizona Republic. Retrieved May 13, 2021.
7. "HOME | Dr. Michael Trevillion for Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction". Trevillion 4 AZ Supt. Retrieved May 13, 2021.
8. "2022 Primary Election". apps.azsos.gov. Retrieved July 25, 2022.
9. "2022 General Election Statewide Canvass" (PDF). Arizona Secretary of State. Retrieved December 5, 2022.
10. "Petition for Automatic Recount" (PDF). Arizona Secretary of State. Retrieved December 5, 2022.
11. "Arizona Sec. of State Katie Hobbs gets recount process started for 3 races". KTAR News. December 5, 2022. Retrieved December 7, 2022.
12. "Order to Conduct Recount" (PDF). Arizona Secretary of State. Retrieved December 5, 2022.
13. "CV2022-015915: Order Regarding Recount Results". Maricopa County Superior Court. December 29, 2022. Retrieved December 29, 2022.
14. "General Election Statewide Recount Results" (PDF). Arizona Secretary of State. Retrieved December 29, 2022.
15. @DrewSav (July 30, 2023). "Here's the Superintendent race, which went from D+3 in 2018 to R+0.4 in 2022" (Tweet) – via Twitter.