Republican Arizona Corporation Commission candidate John Allen confirmed to PolitickerAZ.com that he put in a congratulatory call to Barry Wong, but has not yet conceded the race.

By the unofficial preliminary count, Wong appears to have won the third GOP spot on the ACC general election ballot. However, Pima County has not finished its count of ballots cast in Tuesday's primary, and Maricopa County has reported it has 43,000 ballots, primarily mailed or walked in, that remain to be tallied.

Therefore, said Allen, he has not ceded the race to Wong yet.

"I said let's let the system work its way through," said Allen, recounting his coversation with Wong. "Though it would be very difficult to win from the position I'm in, I'm certainly giving him the understanding that I'm not conceding anything yet."

Wong holds a very thin margin over Allen in the initial count, leading his fellow Republican by 1,000 votes - or .2 percent of the total - out of over 720,000 ballots cast.

"I'm more confident than I was last night," Wong told PolitickerAZ.com. "I'm comfortable but still cautious, because there are still variables" that might affect the final result.

Allen had high praise for Wong, as well as the two undisputed primary winners, state Reps. Marian McClure (R-Tucson) and Bob Stump (R-Peoria), calling them "committed conservatives."

"He's a hard worker, very bright," said Allen of Stump, the highest vote getter in the eight-person race. "It's hard to come out of Harvard and [the University of California] Berkeley and still maintain a solid conservative outlook," joked Allen, referring to Stump's education in traditionally liberal universities.