If you have been out shopping this week for some new flowers, you will have seen the first batch of chrysanthemums in the centers. You certainly can use these as a burst of color for the fall, but I do not recommend them as a perennial for the long term in our desert pots.

• Chrysanthemum

I always like our pots to be full of color. Mums will have their bloom time and then be green. Dedicated gardeners may be able to get them to bloom again but I do not have the patience to wait, often a full year and then still no blooms (for me at least!)

Instead, watch for osteospremums as they will give you a much longer season. And if you really like chrysanthemums, use them in a small decorative pot for temporary color.

• The Contained Gardener
• Osteos in All Their Glory!

For more pictures on potted gardens in the desert, visit the Sonoran Gardens website today.

Have a question? Email Marylee, Tucson's Potted Garden Expert.

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In the most competitive local election of the night, Ally Miller looks to be the winner over three other Republicans in the race to replace the retiring Pima County Supervisor Ann Day.

With 98 percent of precincts reporting, Miller had 38 percent of the vote.

"I'm happy I have a room full of supporters," Miller said at her Election Night party at the Redline Sports Grill.

Miller, who will face Democrat Nancy Young Wright in the November general election, said her focus would be on creating jobs and fixing streets.

Former Arizona Republican Party chairman Mike Hellon, who was coming in second with 32 percent of the vote, was disappointed in the outcome, but said getting off the campaign trail would allow him to get back to playing golf.

"If the sun comes up tomorrow, everything is good," Hellon said. "If I don't win I'll be able to work on my golf game, which has been lacking."

Hellon added that he "didn't particularly want to run. I had some people who convinced me that I could beat the Democrat. It's always tough in a four-way Republican race with a Tea Party candidate."

He expressed concern that Miller might not do well against Democrat Nancy Young Wright in the general election.

"That's why I'm in the race," he said. "Because I don't think the others can win in the general election."

State lawmaker Vic Williams, who was coming in third with 22 percent of the vote, said the result was "not what we want."

"We worked hard and put out a good message, but unfortunately, it's not reflecting in the poll numbers at this time," Williams said.

At the Democratic Party celebration at El Casino ballroom, Wright said that expected to have to "work very hard" to beat Miller.

"We're going to talk about the differences, we're going to have a civil debate, I hope, and I am
looking forward to that," Wright said.

UA journalism students Katherine Carroll, John Magee, Amanda Sedberry and Alyssa Reilly contributed to this report.

Pima County Superintendent of Public Instruction Linda Arzoumanian cruised to victory over challenger Mace Bravin, having captured roughly 54.3 percent of the vote.

"I have a lot of work that I'm working on, and I want to be able to accomplish it," Arzoumanian said.

In her upcoming term, Arzoumanian said she hoped to improve STEM education in Pima County with the help of Gov. Jan Brewer and the Department of Education.

The Republican Arzoumanian faces no Democratic opposition in the general election.

UA journalism student Zachary Vito contributed to this report.

Updated at 10:26 p.m.—Final update of the night

U.S. Senate: Republicans (1324 of 1667 precincts reporting)
Jeff Flake: 274,997 (69.3 percent)
Wil Cardon: 83,338 (21 percent)
Clair Van Steenwyk: 22,518 (5.7 percent)
Bryan Hackbarth: 14,936 (3.8 percent)

U.S. Congress, District 1: Democrats (254 of 339 precincts reporting)
Ann Kirkpatrick: 26,664 (65.8 percent)
Wenona Benally Baldenegro: 13,739 (33.9 percent)

U.S. Congress, District 1: Republicans (254 of 339 precincts reporting)
Jonathan Paton: 22,887 (61.6 percent)
Gaither Martin: 6,751 (18.2 percent)
Patrick Gatti: 2,111 (5.7 percent)
Douglas Wade: 5,235 (14.1 percent)

U.S. Congress, District 2: Democrats (174 of 216 precincts reporting)
Ron Barber: 45,581 (82.3 percent)
Matt Heinz: 9,647 (17.4 percent)

U.S. Congress, District 2: Republicans (174 of 216 precincts reporting)
Martha McSally: 44,713 (81.7 percent)
Mark Koskiniemi: 9,889 (18.1 percent)

U.S. Congress, District 3: Democrats (147 of 189 precincts reporting)
Raul Grijalva: 19,092 (66.2 percent)
Amanda Aguirre: 7,125 (24.7 percent)
Manny Arreguin: 2,534 (8.8 percent)

U.S. Congress, District 3: Republicans (147 of 189 precincts reporting)
Gabby Saucedo Mercer: 9,424 (63.7 percent)
Jaime Vasquez: 5,227 (35.3 percent)

Pima County Sheriff: Republicans (210 of 288 precincts reporting)
Mark Napier: 24,002 (43.2 percent)
Chester Manning: 8,337 (15 percent)
Vinson Holck: 7,956 (14.3 percent)
Walt Setzer: 6,063 (10.9 percent)
Terry Frederick: 8,901 (16 percent)

Pima County Board of Supervisors, District 1: Republicans (49 of 65 precincts reporting)
Ally Miller: 7,874 (38.1 percent)
Vic Williams: 4,484 (21.7 percent)
Mike Hellon: 6,496 (31.4 percent)
Stuart McDaniel: 1,787 (8.6 percent)

Pima County Board of Supervisors, District 4: Republicans (43 of 62 precincts reporting), WINNER TAKE ALL
Ray Carroll: 11,729 (57.8 percent)
Sean Collins: 8,542 (42.1 percent)

State Senate, District 3: Democrats (39 of 53 precincts reporting), WINNER TAKE ALL
Olivia Cajero Bedford: 8,360 (67.4 percent)
Maria de la Luz Garcia: 4,031 (32.5 percent)

House of Representatives, District 9: Democrats (50 of 64 precincts reporting), top two advance
Dustin Cox: 8,451 (29 percent)
Victoria Steele: 10,361 (35.6 percent)
Mohur Sidhwa: 10,225 (35.1 percent)

House of Representatives, District 10: Democrats (40 of 62 precincts reporting), top two advance
Bruce Wheeler: 10,672 (38.9 percent)
Brandon Patrick: 6,727 (24.5 percent)
Stefanie Mach: 9,973 (36.3 percent)

Republican Jonathan Paton was basking in the glow of victory at Boston's Restaurant and Sports Bar in Marana on Election Night. Although all the votes had yet to be counted, Paton had more than 60 percent of the vote; his closest challenger, Gaither Martin, had less than 20 percent.

“I’m very excited for the race ahead," Paton said. "It’s outstanding to win the primary election especially with the news we just got that we did overwhelming well here in Pima County, my hometown."

Although Democrats have a voter-registration edge in Congressional District 1, Paton likes his chances against Democrat Ann Kirkpatrick.

"I think a lot of the Democrats in this district don’t necessarily vote on party lines," Paton said. "I
think they typically vote for Republican presidents and I think we’re going to do well no matter what.”

Paton acknowledged that Kirkpatrick had a big financial advantage over him in the race.

"We've got to raise more money because our opponent has the lead, fundraising-wise, and we've got to deal with that," Paton said.

UA journalism students Megan Alletson and Morgan Toone contributed to this report.

• Mariana Dale
• Martha McSally with her dog, Penelope, on Election Night

At her election-night celebration on Tucson's east side, Republican Martha McSally took to the podium just after 9 p.m. to thank her close friends and family for sticking with her.

"I am humble and grateful and convicted that it is time to stand up and hopefully take another oath of office to serve again my community and my nation that I love deeply," said McSally, who had more than 80 percent of the vote against challenger Mark Koskiniemi.

McSally said her experience in the special election earlier this year will help her in her campaign against Congressman Ron Barber, whom she hopes to unseat in Congressional District 2.

"Let's all go home, get about 5 hours of sleep and hit it tomorrow because we are clear for take off!" McSally said.

UA journalism students Gabriel Romero and Mariana Dale contributed to this report.

U.S. Congressman Raul Grijalva arrives just minutes after Ron Barber took the stage at El Casino Ballroom. He began reminding himself that it's not good form to gloat, but he was going to do it anyway.

"I really enjoyed every minute of it," said Grijalva about the primary race. Although, I can't help but mention here that his Democratic candidates didn't put up much of a challenge.

Grijalva said he believes everyone should have a little sense of panic because of what's at stake in the general election—specifically keeping Barack Obama in office. The choices, he said, are pretty clear. The GOP wants to marginalize people, while the Democrats believe in tolerance and diversity.

Grijalva said he was going to make some promises right now as a candidate—that he wasn't going to run away from his support of President Obama or "pretend I didn't vote for health care."

"I will not run away," he said.

He also promised between now and the general election that "we're going to have fun," and elect a Democratic president, senator, congressmen and state legislatures.

"So, I'm looking forward to it," he said, and spending time supporting races like Pima County Board of Supes member Richard Elias, and Tucson Unified School District candidate Cam Juarez.

Pima County Supervisor Ray Carroll is way out ahead of challenger Sean Collins. Carroll had nearly 60 percent of the vote in the early balloting.

"I'm thankful to all the people who volunteered to help me, not only with their hard-earned money, but also with their blood, sweat and tears," Carroll said. "I"m grateful for the opportunity to serve for four more years."

Carroll said he fought back against a smear campaign by his opponents.

"I wasn't willing to be smeared out of office, especially by a bunch of carpet-bagger thugs," Carroll said. "I worked to the best of my ability. I trusted the people and they trusted me."

Reports out of Mesa look grim for Russell Pearce's comeback hopes. The latest numbers show him to be losing by 14 points to Skymall founder Bob Worsley in the Republican primary election for Mesa's LD 25.

Pearce, as you'll recall, made headlines both for being the legislator pushing hardest for SB 1070, as well as for losing a recall election late last year when Mesa voters felt he left their interests behind in favor of his immigration crusade.

Things don't look good for Pearce's brother, Lester, either. Early results show him losing big to his opponent, Steve Chucri in the primary race for Maricopa County Supervisor in District 2. Numbers from an hour ago show Chucri leading with 58.3% of the votes to Lester's 41.7%.

UPDATE, 10:36 p.m.: With more than 56% of precincts reporting, it's safe to say that Pearce is out of this one. Latest total shows Worsley beating him, 56.21% to 43.61%.

This tweet from Michelle Donaldson of Phoenix's KPHO says it all:

SB1070's Russell Pearce apparently has nothing to say about failed #AZPrimary comeback tonight.. sending a message to reporters to go home.
— Michelle Donaldson (@mdonaldson) August 29, 2012

Something started happening on stage around 9 p.m. tonight at El Casino Ballroom, and it wasn't from the Grijavalistas waiting for the congressman — it was the other congressman.

Ron Barber supporters started to gather in the corner and then took to the stage holding signs and cheering. Eventually, Barber entered the room with his wife and spoke to a standing crowd that practically rushed the stage.

"Well, here we are again ... we had so much fun a few short months ago ... thought we'd do it all over again tonight," Barber said, his wife standing by his side at the podium.

Barber extended an invitation to all Matt Heinz supporters to join his campaign and to know they are welcome. He also congratulated Martha McSally on her win tonight.

"I want to congratulate Martha McSally on her victory," he said, adding that he wants her to know that while appreciates her years of service, "this election is not about you or me."

Barber said the race is about middle-class families. Barber told the crowd he wasn't going to privatize Social Security. They should expect him to put Arizonans back to work, help veterans, build the solar industry, secure the border and fix a broken immigration system.

"I look forward to a discussion with my opponent on these issues," he said, and how her support of GOP positions will make life harder for the middle class.