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March 24th, 2025 Len’s Political Note #714 Kristin Mayes Arizona Attorney General
2026 General Election
Kristin Mayes
On March 12, I wrote a piece describing the state of the Governors’ races nationally. That was manageable. I was bound to miss late candidates and I missed one right away. On March 12, former Congresswoman Katie Porter announced her candidacy for governor of California. Katie Porter may prove to be the Democrats very best candidate in a field of mixed quality.
I considered writing a similar piece about the candidates for Down ballot races, but I could not. It was too early to write helpful pieces about Down ballot candidates and their opponents. There were too many cases of no candidates or no candidates but the incumbent.
What I did find is that there were a few Democratic incumbents who had won such close races that it did not matter that we do not know who the Republican candidate will be. As with Katie Hobbs, Governor of Arizona and Jon Ossoff, US Senator from Georgia, there are races that were so close in 2022 and in a context so important that we need to start making donations now — even though the election is in November, 2026.
DONATE now to Kristin Mayes (well., maybe wait until you have finished your April 1 election donations). Keep on donating through the year. You, and those who are with you, are competing with Elon Musk’s donations. Even if one hundred of you together cannot donate as much as Musk does alone, you give a candidate enough to work with, enough to use to compete and ultimately win,
Kristin Mayes is an exception. Two serious Republicans have already announced their candidacy. They see her as vulnerable because her 2022 race was so close, because the state is so closely divided on important public issues, and because it is not clear whether Democrats or Republicans are Arizona’s dominant party.
Kristin Mayes won the 2022 election for attorney general over an extreme right candidate, Abraham Hamidah. She received 1,254,809 votes. He received 1,254,529 votes. The margin was 280 votes. In percentage terms, the vote was 50.01% to 49.99%. Hamidah will not be back to contest the 2026 race. He will be defending the Congressional seat AZ 08 that he won in 2024.
The two serious Republican candidates for Attorney General, so far, are State Senate President Warren Peterson and attorney Rodney Glassman.
Kristin Mayes is in her early fifties, she was born in Prescott, Arizona, attended local schools and learned about activism and politics from her dad. A pharmacist, he was a self-taught botanist and the founder of the local version of the Sierra Club. He installed a jury-built solar energy system during the energy crisis of the 1970s.
Kristin Mayes went to Arizona State on a merit-based scholarship that included tuition, room and board, foreign study, a paid internship, and personal mentoring by faculty and alumni. She was editor in chief of the college newspaper and graduated as valedictorian. Her foreign internship included working on the Johannesburg Star covering the crime and violence that marked the end of South Africa’s apartheid system. After graduation, she worked for the Phoenix Gazette newspaper and then the larger Arizona Republic, for which she covered the state legislature.
With a Truman Scholarship in hand, Kristin Mayes left for Columbia University in New York City, where she earned a Master’s in Public Administration. She returned to the Arizona Republic for which she covered Arizona Senator John McCain’s presidential campaign. She wrote a book about the campaign which had its volatile moments between and press and the candidate. Kristin Mayes was barred from the candidate’s bus because McCain was feuding with her newspaper over their editorial positions. After the campaign and after publication of her book, Kristin Mayes went to law school (at Arizona State, of course), and graduated Magna.
In 2002, Kristin Mayes was still a Republican. Kristin Mayes became Democrat Janet Napolitano’s press secretary during her campaign for Governor. In 2003, Governor Napolitano appointed Kristin Mayes to the Arizona Corporation Commission. The Commission is an elected body that oversees public utilities. Kristin Mayes was elected as a Republican to this commission in a special election in 2004 and in 2006 in the general election. Her experience with John McCain was helpful with the election part. McCain was inclined to endorse another Republican until Kristin Mayes was able to persuade him to be neutral.
Kristin Mayes served on the Corporation Commission through 2010 – focusing on pipeline safety, renewable energy, natural gas, and water conservation. The commission was not a court, but it did process cases. Kristin Mayes reported having participated in decisions about 2,700 cases leading to the return of “tens of millions of dollars.”
Term-limited on the Commission, she opened her own law firm and joined the faculty of the Arizona State University law school, teaching energy law and utility law. She also served as a senior sustainability scientist for the University’s School of Global Sustainability.
In 2010, she made one important decision. By then, openly a lesbian, she wanted to have a child. With the help of a friend, who remains a father figure for her daughter, she had a daughter via IVF.
In 2017, she made another important decision. There appears to have been three reasons she left the Republicans for the Democrats. One was the election of Donald Trump as President. Another was the Democrats steadfastness on reproductive freedom. A third was the attitude toward the environment of the Democrat Party. She would say that the Republican Party moved away from her.
Having made these changes in her personal and political life, she ran for Attorney General in 2022, winning by that slim margin described above. She had run intending to “depoliticize” the office. She rested her opposition to Hamadeh on his persistence in claiming the 2020 election was rigged. She promised to “focus on preserving the state’s water supplies, fighting for abortion rights, prosecuting consumer fraud and elder abuse and upholding democracy.”
It happens to almost every politician. Life intervenes. Right now, she is focusing on the battle to get fired federal employees reinstated. She is opposing the firing of FTC commissioners. She is providing guidance to public schools about what to do if ICE comes looking for a child.
Arizona would be a different place if Abraham Hamadeh has received 281 additional votes. We are a long way off from November, 2026, but Arizona would be quite different if one of the announced Republicans were to be elected Attorney General.
APRIL 1 IS AROUND THE CORNER
Wisconsin – General Election April 1.
State Supreme Court
Support Democratic County Circuit Judge Susan Crawford against former Attorney General Brad Schimel. Currently Wisconsin’s Supreme Court has a 4-3 Democratic majority. There are only a few days left in this campaign. Susan Crawford is running to replace a Democratic justice who is retiring. A Republican win would give the court a 4-3 Republican majority. This race is crucial for preserving the right to abortion in Wisconsin, for preserving an un-gerrymandered state legislature and eliminating voter suppression. Largely because of Elon Musk, who is working toward donating $100 million to Susan Crawford’s opponent, former state Attorney General, Brad Schimel, this has become a very expensive election. It is not too late. DONATE to Susan Crawford. Do your little bit to oppose Musk. No donation is too small. Of course, if you have a spare $100 million to match Musk, that would be nice. See Len’s Political Note #684
State Superintendent of Public Instruction – also on Wisconsin’s April 1 ballot
Support Democratic incumbent Jill Underly in the primary and in the general election. Jill underly serves as a bulwark against right wing culture war positions. DONATE. Keep a successful Democrat in a leadership role in Wisconsin. See Len’s Political Note #693.
Florida’s Special Election on April 1 – now only a few days away. In these two heavily Republican districts, with your help, we can see just how much damage Republicans have done to themselves during Donald Trump’s opening unconstitutional salvos. A Democratic win in either of these races would be cataclysmic for Trump and the Republicans. A close race would be remarkable
Florida 01: Gay Valimont is the Democratic nominee. Gay Valimont is the former head of the Florida Chapter of Mom’s Demand Action, a gun safety organization. She has returned to politics after two family tragedies. She understands how Republican her district is. She is both courageous and energetic enough to give it her all in a very tough cause. Her opponent is the former CFO for the state of Florida. He proposed using Florida tax money to defend Donald Trump in his criminal trials. That proposal was too extreme even for the Florida legislature. The Democrats have surprised the Republicans in these two specials. Gay Valimont has raised just under $7 million while her opponent has raised about $2 million. Pile on. It could make a difference. DONATE to Gay Valimont. See Len’s Political Note #694.
Florida 06: Josh Weil is the Democratic nominee. He is a teacher of middle school boys who have not been able to remain in typical classrooms, a job that may be tougher than seeking election as a Democrat in FL 06. Originally exercised by the 2020 Democratic losses in Florida, he describes his commitment to his own children and his students as energizing his campaign. His opponent is Randy Fine, wealthy from the gaming industry, an opponent of rights for members of the LGBTQ community, an opponent of abortion. Fine is convinced that God saved Donald Trump so he could be president. This race has been a bigger ambush of the Republicans. Josh Weil has raised $10 million. His opponent $1 million. Keep that pressure on. DONATE to Josh Weil. See Len’s Political Note #704.
The following two races are dateless. New York 21 cannot be scheduled until the incumbent, nominated to be Ambassador to the UN, resigns from Congress. And the Republican Judge who lost the November, 2024 election continues his law suit, preventing the Democratic winner in from taking her seat on the North Carolina Supreme Court.
New York 21. Blake Gendebien will be the Democratic nominee. There was opposition, but no primary. He persuaded all 15 of the Democratic Party Chairs who state law gives the authority to select the candidate to support him. He is a dairy farmer, not a politician. But he knows enough about politics to be successful. We have no idea who the Republican nominee will be. It appears that the Republican Party chairs don’t know much more than we do about who their nominee will be. Furthermore, none of us knows when this special election will be. We won’t know until the Congresswoman, who has been nominated to be Trump’s Ambassador to the UN, is confirmed by the Senate and resigns from Congress. Help Blake Gendebien maintain his head start. DONATE to his campaign. See Len’s Political Note #706
North Carolina Supreme Court
Previously appointed to the North Carolina Supreme Court, Allison Riggs won her election in November. Unfortunately, her opponent continues to attempt to disqualify 65,000+ voters. Furthermore, her past and future North Carolina Supreme Court colleagues in what is now a 5-1 Republican Court, have thrown obstacles in her path. DONATE. Help her win her law suit. If she can sustain her effort, it is unlikely the Court would be so bold as to invalidate the election. See Len’s Political Note #594
Also in Arizona
Arizona Governor
Incumbent Katie Hobbs.
Katie Hobbs is our most vulnerable Democratic Governor, The election is not until November, 2026. DONATE now. Or soon. Wait until after April 1. Continue donating through November, 2026. Governors can be bulwarks against Trump and Musk. See Len’s Political Note #712
