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Arizona AG rivals Mayes and Petersen trade attacks over experience, donors and deportation
Arizona AG rivals Mayes and Petersen trade attacks over experience, donors and deportation. Originally published by Arizona Mirror.
By Gloria Rebecca Gomez · 2026-09-24T09:05:42.224Z
Democratic Attorney General Kris Mayes debates Senate President Warren Petersen, the Republican nominee, at the Clean Elections debate on Sept. 23, 2026. Photo by Joe Rondone/The Arizona Republic/pool Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes and Senate President Warren Petersen spent an hour talking over each other and making snide comments in a Wednesday night debate over which of the two candidates should be the state’s top law enforcement official for the next four years. Mayes highlighted the lawsuits her office has been involved in under her leadership as proof that she’s fought for Arizonans and will continue to do so if reelected, including against the Saudi owned company Fondomente https://apnews.com/article/arizona groundwater fondomonte fc4e94a2b6b782d46f8ba3afb25548f5 , which was pumping groundwater to grow alfalfa for livestock in the Gulf country, and against software company RealPage and nine landlords for colluding to raise prices https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/arizona sues apartment landlords for immoral rent price fixing scheme 18372470/ . “Being a lawyer for all of the people of Arizona means taking on big fights, and that is what I have done,” she said. Petersen touted his nearly 15 year career as a lawmaker and backing of bills that cut taxes as evidence that voting for him would reduce costs for Arizonans. “For fourteen years, I’ve worked at the legislature to lower costs and keep Arizona safe, even in divided government, across the aisle and delivered tax cuts every year,” he said. But Mayes sought to characterize Petersen as too inexperienced to head the state’s top prosecutorial office, twice pointing out his recent admission to the State Bar in sharp asides. “I know you’ve only been a lawyer for about two and a half years, you’ve just graduated from law school — I can’t even believe that your party nominated you for this position,” she said, when refuting his claim that the rate increases she voted in favor against in her time on the Arizona Corporation Commission in the mid 2000s amounted to tariffs. And the Democrat blasted Petersen for receiving campaign support from a trailer park management company she sued for leaving its residents without air conditioning, saying that it shows he wouldn’t represent the interests of everyday Arizonans. “I wonder how the morale of this office would be if they had an attorney general come into office who was only there because he was supported by a dark money company called BoaVida who plunked $615,000 into your campaign — you wouldn’t even be standing on this stage with me, Warren, if this private equity funded mobile home company operator hadn’t plunked all that money into your campaign on the day that I filed in court against them,” she said. BoaVida donated more than $600,000 to a political action committee https://azmirror.com/2026/07/16/boavida group trailer park firm sued by kris mayes is the biggest donor to a pac backing warren petersen/ that has spent money running ads supporting Petersen’s bid for attorney general. The committee has received donations from multiple special interest groups that have clashed with Mayes. Petersen rebutted that the money went to an independent expenditure that he has no control over. To convince voters to reject Mayes in November, Petersen lambasted her as a partisan candidate who has weaponized the office to attack her political opponents, though he offered no evidence to back up that claim, and said her behavior has reflected badly on the office through angry outbursts at meetings with federal and county officials. Mayes acknowledged that she was involved in an argument with federal officials over an intent to withhold funding for a federal program addressing drug trafficking, but dismissed Petersen’s claims as nothing more than “personal attacks.” Petersen also seized on Mayes’ investigation of the Sunshine Residential pay to play allegations against Gov. Katie Hobbs as proof that she values political allies over prosecuting crimes. Reporting from the Arizona Republic https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/arizona/2024/06/05/arizona group home gives big to governor katie hobbs gets more state money/73957477007/ found that Sunshine Residential Homes, a foster care group that donated more than $400,000 to Hobbs’ 2022 political campaign, received a nearly 60% increase in the compensation rate it received for housing foster children. But a two year investigation headed by Mayes’ office absolved Hobbs of criminal guilt and concluded that there was no evidence to link the political donations to the rate increase. The scandal has been a political headache for both Hobbs and Mayes, as Republicans have repeatedly used it to accuse them of corruption. “She didn’t even interview Katie Hobbs, she didn’t do a grand jury indictment, she didn’t do anything in court,” Petersen said. “Meanwhile, with her political opponents, she never stops.” Hobbs declined to be interviewed for the investigation, instead sending responses through her attorneys. The Republican also criticized Mayes as unfit for office because she failed to defend what he called “common sense” cases, like the 2023 lawsuit against a state law that forbids transgender girls from joining school sports teams consistent with their gender identity. Mayes declined to defend that state law in court and Petersen did so, instead. On Wednesday, Petersen said his involvement in over 100 cases or legal briefs made him the “de facto AG.” Over the past four years, Petersen has joined multiple lawsuits to advocate for the preservation of state laws that Mayes has opposed, including several laws that restrict abortion care — even after voters agreed to make the procedure a right two years ago.
Senate President Warren Petersen, the Republican nominee for Arizona attorney general, at the Clean Elections debate on Sept. 23, 2026. Photo by Joe Rondone/The Arizona Republic/pool The next attorney general will determine the degree to which Arizona welcomes federal immigration enforcement efforts. Mayes has been a vocal opponent of the construction of a detention facility in Surprise, launching a lawsuit accusing the federal government of failing to conduct proper environmental impact studies https://azmirror.com/2026/04/24/arizona ag sues trump over surprise immigration detention warehouse/ , and has supported local efforts to limit the reach of federal immigration agents https://azmirror.com/2026/05/06/pima county can require judicial warrants before letting ice onto its property mayes says/ . Petersen, by contrast, is a supporter of President Donald Trump’s mass deportation campaign and has said he will work with the president to deport more Arizona residents https://azmirror.com/2026/06/17/warren petersen pledges to deport arizona dreamers/ . In June, in response to a post on social media Mayes’ published vowing to continue defending the rights of Dreamers, immigrants who were brought to the country as minors, Petersen responded that, if elected, he would “ work with the federal government to deport everyone who enters this country illegally https://x.com/votewarren/status/2067294261364539748?s=46 .” On Wednesday, Mayes criticized that stance, saying that it doesn’t reflect what Arizonans want. “These are babies who were brought to Arizona when they were little children, who are now firefighters and teachers and small business owners,” she said. “Arizonans don’t believe in mass deportation, they believe in immigration enforcement.” Petersen rebutted that his statement was never directed at recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program — a federal program that shields some, but not all, Dreamers from deportation — and said he supports immigrants with legal status. “What I said was if you are here illegally in the country you should not be surprised if you are deported,” he said. “I never said that DACA would be deported.” Another public concern that Mayes has weighed in on during her tenure is the pushback against data centers. In August, Mayes publicly called for a statewide pause https://azmirror.com/2026/08/31/kris mayes targets ai data centers as arizona faces water power crunch/ on the construction of data centers, and on Wednesday, she reiterated that stance, saying that more time is needed to consider the drawbacks of building them. “Can you imagine if one of these hyperscale data centers came into your neighborhood, with no notice, no vote by the community, with the noise pollution, the light pollution, the water pollution, the heat island effect — there’s a new study out of ASU https://news.asu.edu/20260518 environment and sustainability turning down heat data centers showing that these things actually increase ambient temperature,” she said. “You bet I’m proud to try to pump the brakes here and do whatever I can as attorney general going forward to help Arizonans.” Petersen said that data centers are critical for technology, like cellphones, that everyday Arizonans enjoy. Rather than stop their construction, he said that data centers should be built with community input and local control. And, he said, data centers should recycle their own water and produce their own power to minimize their impact on local resources. With the midterms looming, Trump and Republicans have sought to cast doubt on the security of elections across the country, in an echo of the unfounded claims that the 2020 election was fraudulent. Petersen was among those who claimed, without evidence, that Trump won the 2020 election and he was a driving force behind launching a legislative audit of the election led by the Trump supporting Cyber Ninjas in 2021 https://azmirror.com/2020/12/15/senate issues subpoenas for all ballots voting machines to audit maricopa county election/ . On Wednesday, pressed on whether he would continue advancing the unfounded claims that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump if the president asked for an investigation, Petersen expressed skepticism that such a call would occur and stated that Biden won. “Biden won,” he said twice, tersely. But he did not say whether he would reject a request to look into the 2020 election — something Trump continues to focus on https://georgiarecorder.com/2026/07/02/fbi redirects hundreds of analysts to examine fulton countys 2020 election records/ — and added that he feels voter concerns over election security should be taken seriously. “Our voters deserve to feel like their elections are safe and secure, and it’s our job to make sure that they feel that way,” Petersen said. “My opponent has frustrated many of our citizens with her dismissive attitude towards election integrity. I think it’s important that we listen to everybody.” Mayes, meanwhile, has sought to prosecute the Republican officials who served as fake electors https://azmirror.com/2026/06/04/mayes will go back to the grand jury after arizona supreme court doesnt revive fake electors case/ in 2020 in a bid to install Trump to a second term, even though he lost the election. SUPPORT https://azmirror.com/donate/?oa referrer=midstorybox