Pearce scores lopsided win in District 18

Veteran Mesa legislator Russell Pearce defeated immigration attorney Kevin Gibbons on Tuesday night in the bitterly fought Republican Senate primary campaign marked by personal attacks from an independent expenditure group.

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With virtually all of the votes tallied, Pearce led Gibbons by a 2-to-1 margin in the District 18 primary. Final results will not be known for several days because some early and provisional ballots have yet to be counted.

"This is clearly a great day for me and for District 18," Pearce said after the results started pouring in.

Pearce also lashed out at what he called the smear attacks by the group Mesa Deserves Better, which sent mailers dredging up a 28-year-old divorce case involving Pearce and his wife. The two remain married, and both denied the allegations leveled in the campaign literature.

"Gutter politics don't work," Pearce said, blaming the campaign against him on people opposed to his attempts to tighten state laws against illegal immigration.

Gibbons was banking on high voter turnout - especially among independents - to have any hope of beating Pearce, an eight-year state legislator and staunch advocate of enforcing immigration laws. Slightly more than 8,300 people voted in the primary, or one-third of the district's registered Republicans. That is about 4,000 fewer votes than were cast in the primary four years ago, Gibbons pointed out.

"It's unfortunate so few people showed up," Gibbons said. "The good news is that the campaign was a vehicle to expose Russell Pearce for the guy that he is, and it'll be memorable for that."

Gibbons said he tried to bring a "practical, business-friendly" approach to dealing with illegal immigration, which he added is "closer to the roots of the Republican party."

Pearce labeled Gibbons' campaign as pandering to those supporting open borders and amnesty for illegal immigrants.

Pearce sponsored the state's new employer sanctions law, which penalizes business owners for knowingly hiring illegal immigrants.

Gibbons has said that holding businesses responsible for checking paperwork is unreasonable. He said he had the backing of many Republicans who find Pearce's views too extreme.

The race took an ugly turn when two fliers from an independent group hit mailboxes, one accusing Pearce of having a history of domestic violence and another connecting him to neo-Nazis.

Pearce said Tuesday night that there should be some sort of laws against negative campaigning.

"Such distortions are more than disappointing," Pearce said.

Gibbons was not involved in the mailings by the independent expenditure group.

"A Pearce victory by no means signals an end to the discussion that's been started," Gibbons said.

Gibbons raised more than $80,000 - and thousands more came from independent expenditure groups working against Pearce.

Democrat Judah Nativio ran uncontested and will face Pearce in the Nov. 4 general election.