The race for Arizona's governor seat was brought to a close Sunday when Republican candidate Matt Salmon officially conceded to Democrat Janet Napolitano.
Salmon forfeited the race after election numbers showed Napolitano was too far ahead for him to catch up.
The two opposing candidates spoke briefly over the phone, according to Napolitano's spokeswoman, Kris Mayes.
"They had a very good conversation," Mayes said. "Matt was very gracious."
Napolitano, 44, will be inaugurated as Arizona's 21st governor on Jan. 6 in Phoenix, succeeding Gov. Jane Hull.
According to Mayes, Napolitano is spending the weeks before the inauguration preparing for the new position.
"She is now in the process of getting down to work for the people of Arizona," Mayes said.
Among Napolitano's first plans is the formation of a "transition team," a group comprised of appointed members who will help her get acclimated to office.
She had already appointed former Republican legislator Chris Herstam, who is also a member of the Arizona Board of Regents, and attorney Andy Hurwitz, a Democrat, to the transition team as of Sunday night.
Mayes said Napolitano would name the rest of her transition team Tuesday.
Napolitano led throughout the vote-counting process, but never by more than 2 percent ahead of Salmon.
As of Monday, she was ahead by 11,825 votes, leading with 46.2 percent of the vote while 45.2 percent had been counted in favor of Salmon. Her lead shrank from more than 25,000 ahead on the Nov. 5 election night.
The other gubernatorial candidates, independent Richard Mahoney and Libertarian Barry Hess, received 6.9 percent and 1.7 percent of the vote, respectively, as of Monday.
The close race required the state to wait for mail-in ballots to be counted before a winner was announced.
The Nov. 5 election brought out approximately 56.3 percent of registered voters statewide; of the 2,229,180 who voted, 1,314,626 were from Maricopa County.
Yavapai County, which includes Prescott and Sedona, had the highest voter turnout, with 71.4 percent of voters taking part in the election.
The tiny southern county of Santa Cruz recorded the lowest voter turnout with 38.1 percent.
Andy Chasin, Salmon's press secretary, said that Clean Elections, which gives candidates the option to be funded through taxpayer dollars, might have hurt Salmon because he opted to raise campaign money on his own.
"A lot of campaigns come down to who spends the most," Chasin said. "We were outspent 2 to 1."
Chasin said Salmon's only definite plans for the near future include spending time with his family.
"He's been out on the road for a long time," Chasin said.
He added that Salmon maintains a firm stance on his campaign platform.
"He's going to do everything he can to make the changes he's been talking about for the past year," Chasin said. "It was a campaign about the issues. I don't think he has any regrets."
Reach the reporter at megan.rudebeck@asu.edu.
