The front-runners in the Democratic and Republican primaries for Oregon attorney general cruised to victory in early returns Tuesday, setting up a well-funded and competitive battle heading into November.

Former House Speaker Dan Rayfield was leading 77% to 23% against civil rights activist Shaina Maxey Pomerantz in the Democratic primary, while Republican former prosecutor Will Lathrop was up 65% to 35% against businessman Michael Cross in partial returns as of 8 p.m.

Democrats have held the attorney general’s office since 1993. November’s election will be the first open race for the state’s top lawyer since 2012, when retiring Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum was first elected.

Rayfield, a 45-year-old personal injury attorney from Corvallis, has vowed to expand consumer protection work in the Department of Justice’s civil enforcement division and increase public safety through partnerships with both law enforcement and criminal justice advocates, if elected.

Rayfield had raised about $876,000 as of Tuesday, campaign finance records show. His largest donor is D.C.-based Guarantee Political Action Committee, which is associated with the Democratic Party and contributed $100,000.

He faced nominal opposition from Maxey Pomerantz, a former civil rights investigator at the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries and head of racial justice nonprofit, Race Talks: Uniting to Break the Chains of Racism. She raised $15,000.

Lathrop, a 46-year-old former Marion and Yamhill county prosecutor, entered the race after an eight-year stint working for a human rights organization in Uganda and Ghana where he worked to fight child slavery. If elected, he vowed to restore trust in the justice system by reducing crime and public corruption.

Lathrop, of Newberg, has raised more than $733,000, campaign finance records show, including $50,000 each from Salem businessmen Lawrence Tokarski and Richard Withnell.

Cross, who has unsuccessfully run for governor and attorney general, didn’t raise money.