The Latest: Gallego takes big lead in race for Phoenix mayor

PHOENIX (AP) - The Latest on the race for mayor of Phoenix (all times local):

8:15 p.m.

Kate Gallego opened a large lead in early results of the race for mayor of Phoenix.

Gallego led Daniel Valenzuela by 17 points in Tuesday’s election to oversee the nation’s fifth largest city.

Gallego and Valenzuela are both Democrats who gave up their seats on the Phoenix City Council to run for mayor. They agree on most issues but fought bitterly over past votes on property taxes and stadium subsidies.

The winner will finish the term of Greg Stanton, who was elected to the U.S. House in November.

Gallego was the early front-runner after leading Valenzuela by 19 points in the November primary, but she faced a barrage of attacks in recent weeks accusing her of opposing public safety funding.

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2: 15 p.m.

Voters in Phoenix are choosing a new mayor Tuesday.

Former City Council members Kate Gallego and Daniel Valenzuela are squaring off to lead the nation’s fifth-largest city. The winner will finish the term of former Mayor Greg Stanton, a Democrat who was elected to Congress last November.

Gallego is a graduate of Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania business school. She worked at Salt River Project before turning to politics.

Valenzuela is a firefighter in the neighboring city of Glendale. He would be the first Latino mayor of Phoenix.

Gallego led Valenzuela by a wide margin in the primary, which narrowed the field to two candidates. Since then she’s come under a barrage of attacks by outside groups backing Valenzuela.

Both are Democrats, though the race is officially nonpartisan.