Arizona Republicans vie to challenge Attorney General Mayes

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(The Center Square) - Arizona Republican voters will decide on who takes on state Attorney General Kris Mayes in the Nov. 3 general election.

Senate President Warren Petersen, R-Glendale, and attorney Rodney Glassman are competing in the Republican primary. Mayes is running unopposed in the Democratic primary.

The primary elections for both parties will be held on July 21.

Petersen said he has the “most legal experience and the most experience doing what the attorney general does.”

“This is a management policy position. I’m the only person in this race who has managed one of the largest institutions over the last four years as Senate president,” Petersen told The Center Square.

Petersen also said he has been called the “de facto attorney general” because Arizona law allows a Senate president to have legal standing.

“I am now managing over 110 cases or amicus briefs,” he said.

Despite Petersen highlighting his legal experience, Glassman told The Center Square that he is the “only” person in the Republican primary who has “ever practiced law.”

Glassman, who is a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Air Force JAG Corps Reserve, has a history as a prosecutor and private-sector attorney.

Petersen is “unqualified to run the largest law office in the state,” the attorney said, citing the fact that Petersen received his law license in 2023.

Glassman added that Petersen “has never prosecuted a criminal as a lawyer and has never worked in a law office as a lawyer.

The attorney said Petersen is named as the client in lawsuits.

“He has not filed any lawsuits. He has used tax dollars to hire private sector attorneys to do legal work on behalf of the state,” Glassman noted.

The Center Square followed up with Petersen’s campaign regarding Glassman’s claims that he has never practiced law, but the campaign did not respond before publication.

As attorney general, Petersen said he would focus on fighting crime, upholding laws and the state Constitution, and eliminating “fraud and corruption.”

Glassman said on his first day in office as attorney general, he would remove Arizona from “42 politically charged lawfare lawsuits [Mayes] has filed against the Trump administration and rescind the political indictments Mayes has made against President Trump’s allies.”

On how he would work with a Democratic governor as attorney general, Petersen highlighted his experience working in a divided government over the last four years. In his role as Senate president, Petersen has negotiated budgets with Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs.

Petersen said if Hobbs were to break any laws, he would hold her accountable.

Glassman said regardless of which party is in the governor's office, the attorney general works for the people of Arizona.

In the past, Glassman has run as a Democrat.

He was a Democratic member of the Tucson City Council from 2007 to 2009. As the Democratic candidate, he lost to former Sen. Jon McCain in the 2010 Arizona Senate general election.

Glassman told The Center Square he left the Democratic Party on the same day President Donald Trump announced his candidacy for president, July 16, 2015.

The attorney noted over time, the Democratic Party “went insane.”

Since 2018, Glassman has campaigned as a Republican. During this time span, he has run for Arizona Corporation Commission, Maricopa County assessor and attorney general, but has failed to win these races.

According to records from the Arizona Secretary of State's Office, Glassman has a cash-on-hand advantage over Petersen of $2.3 million to $1.5 million. Glassman received more than $502,000 in donations from individuals and $5,000 from the Western Alliance Bancorporation Political Action Committee.

Petersen got more than $281,000 in donations from individuals and $15,200 from political committees. The largest contributions from political action committees came from Pinnacle West PAC at $2,500, UNS Energy Corp. PAC at $2,000 and Blue Cross & Blue Shield PAC at $1,000.

Both Glassman and Petersen have less cash on hand than Mayes, who has $2.6 million. Of that, more than $895,000 came from donations by individuals, and $20,500 was donated by political committees. The largest PAC contribution was a $10,000 donation by the Arizona Education Association Fund for Public Education. The AEA is the state's largest teacher union.

Mayes said her top three priorities if she were to be reelected attorney general would be to “continue making Arizona safer by taking on the cartels and fraudsters, protect working families by holding powerful corporations accountable, and defend Arizona's water supplies, economy, and constitutional rights.”

Mayes told The Center Square by email that her office has “seized more than 27 million fentanyl pills off [Arizona] streets, reduced fraudulent Medicaid billing by more than 92%, recovered over $1.5 billion for Arizona taxpayers, consumers, and businesses and held powerful corporations accountable when they broke the law and drove up costs for working families.”

The attorney general said her “office has never backed down from taking on those harming Arizonans.”

“My job isn't to protect the powerful. It's to protect the people of Arizona, and that's exactly what we've done,” she added.

Regarding the concern that she has been too focused on suing the Trump administration, Mayes said she has saved Arizona taxpayers $1.5 billion by challenging the administration.

“Protecting Arizona means doing both: protecting Arizonans from any crime occurring in our state and standing up to any administration when its actions hurt Arizonans,” she explained.