HELENA — Republican Tim Fox beat Pam Bucy in the race for Montana attorney general.

Fox, a Helena attorney, received 53 percent to Bucy’s 47 percent with most votes tallied after slow returns delayed a decision in the race until early Wednesday.

It was Fox’s second run at the office after losing in 2008 to Steve Bullock, who vacated the seat to run for governor.

Fox focused much of his campaign around a promise to challenge federal policies including the Obama administration’s signature health care law. He also pledged to defend the state’s campaign finance laws.

Bucy touted her experience as a prosecutor and past work in the attorney general’s office. She made it a priority to collect endorsements from local law enforcement agencies.

The attorney general’s post is one of five offices elected statewide that run the Montana Land Board. 

Republicans made it a priority this election cycle to wrest control of the board from Democrats, but Fox’s seat might be the only one they gain: Democratic incumbents rolled to victory for state auditor and secretary of state. The two remaining seats seat on the Land Board, superintendent of public instruction and governor, remained undecided.

Monica Lindeen took the auditor’s race with 56 percent over Derek Skees of Kalispell with 44 percent with most results in.

Lindeen, a Huntley Democrat, gains a second term in which she has said she would seek authority to review health insurance company rate increases. Skees, a Republican state legislator from Whitefish, had promised to use the post to fight federal health reforms.

In a rematch campaign for secretary of state, Democrat Linda McCulloch beat Republican Brad Johnson 52 percent to 45 percent.

McCulloch, of Missoula, had said she would build on her first-term efforts to cut wasteful spending, improve efficiency and update Montana’s election night reporting system. Johnson, of Bozeman, had promised to seek voter identification rules to prevent fraud if elected, but was criticized by his opponent as ineffective when he held the post prior to 2008. 

The superintendent of public instruction race remained too close to call, with first-term incumbent Denise Juneau holding a slim lead with only a small percentage of votes outstanding.

Juneau, a Democrat and the first American Indian woman elected to a statewide position in Montana, was seeking re-election after spending a first term seeking to prevent dropouts and increase graduation rates. 

Welch is a consultant from Martin City who argued during the campaign that the state is over-regulating local schools.

The margin between Juneau and Welch was 3,818 votes with 90 percent of precincts reporting.

For Supreme Court justice, Laurie McKinnon led 53-47 percent over Ed Sheehy.

McKinnon, a district judge in Choteau for the past five years, stressed the importance of judicial restraint and protecting constitutional rights during the campaign. Sheehy, a public defender from Missoula, said justices should stick to the law and not legislate from the bench. The winner replaces Justice James Nelson, who is retiring after nearly 20 years on the bench.