HARRISBURG, Pa. (Legal Newsline) - Democrat Kathleen Kane looks to have won the race for Pennsylvania attorney general.
Kane led Republican challenger by almost 700,000 with 67 percent of precincts reporting, according to Pennlive.com.
Gov. Tom Corbett appointed current attorney general, Linda Kelly, to complete his term as attorney general after he was elected governor. Kelly accepted the job on an interim basis and agreed in advance not to run for a full term.
Kane billed herself as "a prosecutor, not a politician."
If elected, Kane would be many firsts for Pennsylvania as the first elected democrat and woman to be an attorney general since it became an elected position in 1980. This is Kane's first race for an elective office.
The 46-year-old and mother of two spent 12 years prosecuting child sex-abuse and corruption cases in the Lackawanna County District Attorney's Office.
Given Kane's background prosecuting crimes against children, she became a frequent guest on television coverage on the Jerry Sandusky case.
Since then she has become a critic of Corbett's decision to not arrest the former Pennsylvania State University assistant football coach soon after his first young accuser came forward, and instead put the investigation through a three-year grand jury process.
If elected, Kane says she would fully investigate Corbett's handling of the Sandusky case.
In the April primary, Kane won her first election, defeating Patrick Murphy.
Freed, 42, has spent seven years as Cumberland County elected district attorney. He was also a prosecutor for Cumberland and York Counties.
Freed's father-in-law was the state's first elected attorney general.
After Corbett endorsed Freed, he ran unopposed in the Republican primary. Freed has said he has no political goals beyond acting as the attorney general.
The Pennsylvania attorney general holds a staff of about 700 and a budget of $81 million.
Kane poised to become next Pa. AG
