‘You lied’: Kris Mayes, Warren Petersen trade accusations in bitter attorney general debate
The Democrat and Republican split on immigration enforcement, the state's lawsuits against Washington and water as the Nov. 3 election nears.
Watch: Kris Mayes wants the moderators to jump in at a particularly tense moment in attorney general debate | 50 seconds
Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes and state Senate President Warren Petersen accused each other of lying Wednesday in a Clean Elections debate that grew so heated the moderator warned he would begin cutting off their microphones.
In the hour long debate, the candidates accused each other of lying at least 11 times, with Petersen doing so seven times and Mayes four.
Mayes said Petersen was “flat out lying to the people of Arizona” after he described alleged outbursts by her, while Petersen claimed Mayes would “look into the camera and lie to your face.”
Competing visions of the office from Kris Mayes and Warren Petersen
Beneath the attacks, the two offered voters competing views of what the attorney general should do.
Mayes, a Democrat, described the office’s main priority as protecting “the people of Arizona and to make sure that corporations don’t take advantage of our state.”
She cited her fights against utility rate increases and her call for a temporary moratorium on data centers, which she said are driving up power costs and straining water supplies.
“What I’m going to do is fight crime, defend the laws in the Constitution, and root out fraud, waste and corruption,” Petersen said, of his plans for the office. He described himself as a free-market conservative and said Mayes’ “philosophy of just shutting everything down” raises costs for Arizonans.
They also split over the office’s 49 lawsuits against the Trump administration, which Petersen called “political lawfare and environmental radicalism.”
Mayes said how determines whether to file a suit is simple:
“Has the Constitution been violated? Has the state been harmed?”
Petersen led the wasteful Cyber Ninjas audit to decertify Arizona’s 2020 election, wasting millions of taxpayer dollars on the grifter audit firm, and turned over Maricopa voter records with our private data to the Trump DOJ, and could overturn future elections as Arizona AG
— Team Mayes (@TeamMayesAZ) September 24, 2026
Immigration drew the starkest difference
Petersen’s central charge was that Mayes killed the Secure the Border Act, a ballot measure he co-sponsored that he said voters approved by roughly 60%.
The measure made it a state crime to cross the border illegally.
“My opponent supports illegal immigration. I support legal immigration,” Petersen said.
“Absolutely not. It’s absurd,” Mayes said, defending her position. “Arizonans don’t believe in mass deportation. They believe in immigration enforcement.”
She cited her endorsement by a border sheriff and said Petersen had told 70,000 Arizona DACA recipients, or dreamers, to “be prepared to be deported.”
“I never said that DACA would be deported. That is an outright lie by my opponent,” Petersen said. “If you are here illegally in the country, you should not be surprised if you are deported.”
We will be releasing more Democrat endorsements soon. Mayes is a public safety disaster.
— Warren Petersen (@votewarren) September 22, 2026
Both candidates named water as a top litigation priority
Petersen said he worked with Gov. Katie Hobbs to create a fund to sue the federal government over Colorado River allocations and called for building new supply through dams and desalination, saying the state’s system is “2.5 million acre-feet short.”
“I’m proud of the fact that I was the first statewide elected official or candidate to call for a temporary moratorium on new data centers, because we just took a 30% cut in our Colorado River water supplies,” came the retort from Mayes.
In the most recent poll, Mayes held a six-point lead.
The election is November 3.
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Comments
2 Comments
Petersen is unqualified and had nothing to say of any substance that wasn't a personal attack. He was so unprepared he read from a prepared script that appeared to be 100s of pages long as he shuffled them all night long. He only got his law license a couple of years ago for this very purpose. Couldn't be more unqualified.
Complete buffoonery.
Desperation is a commercial alleging that Kris Mayes said Arizonans, when in doubt, can shoot law enforcement--or something like that.
Nothing could be further from the truth and twisted out of context.
Controversial statements should be of no surprise to Peterson--seeing that his supreme leader makes them ALL the time!
In the light of what transpired here locally under the watch of Felix and Vasquez, when does Joe Public get the chance to defend himself!?!
Where does the line get drawn between abiding lawfully in submission and protecting yourself!?!