Warren Petersen vows ‘180-degree shift’ in Attorney General’s Office if he beats Kris Mayes

Arizona Senate President Warren Petersen said Thursday there will be “a 180-degree shift” in the Attorney General’s Office if he defeats incumbent Kris Mayes to become the state’s top prosecutor.

“We’re going to go from what she’s doing — which is political lawfare, environmental radicalism — and I’m going to let everybody know on day one these are the priorities of the office: We’re going to fight crime; we’re going to keep Arizona safe; we’re going to defend the Constitution and the laws, even the laws we do disagree with,” Petersen told KTAR News 92.3 FM’s The Mike Broomhead Show.

Petersen, a Republican, said he aims to remove partisan politics from the Attorney General’s Office.

“It should not be a partisan office,” he said. “That’s exactly the point, and I think exactly why they [voters] will choose me, because Kris Mayes has turned this into a partisan office.”

Petersen defeated Rodney Glassman in Tuesday’s Republican attorney general primary to set up a Nov. 3 general election showdown against Mayes, who was unopposed on the Democratic side.

Petersen has been a state lawmaker since 2013. He earned his law degree during his tenure in the Legislature, prompting Glassman to question his qualifications during the primary campaign. Petersen passed his bar exam in 2020 after getting a law degree from Arizona State University and wasn’t officially admitted to practice law in the state until December 2023.

However, Petersen believes his experience as Senate president, a role he took over in January 2023, will translate to the Attorney General’s Office.

He touted the endorsement of the state’s five largest public safety organizations and said he’s been called a “de facto AG” because he’s been involved in legal cases that Mayes has declined to pursue.

“Since the Arizona Senate president has standing to defend laws when the AG is not, I basically set up a mini solicitor general’s office right inside the Legislature, and we’re now managing over 130 cases or briefs that we’ve done,” he said.

Subscribe to the KTAR Political Brief newsletter to get our top political stories, exclusive guest interviews and more to your email inbox.

Related

AZ Political Podcast: Analyst breaks down Arizona’s post-primary general election mapArizona’s primary election was like ‘rehearsal for the Super Bowl,’ Maricopa County supervisor saysAndy Biggs Q&A: Stances on affordability, water, other key issues ahead of 2026 governor’s raceAndy Biggs responds to question about legitimacy of Gov. Katie Hobbs’ 2022 electionOnly a few thousand primary ballots remain uncounted in Maricopa CountyJay Feely, Amish Shah win respective primaries, will face each other for CD-1