Arizona Attorney General Election: Who Will Win in 2026

Arizona's attorney general race is heating up as Democratic incumbent Kris Mayes and Republican challenger Warren Petersen, the state Senate president, faced off in their first televised debate. Mayes, who narrowly defeated Abe Hamadeh by 280 votes in 2022 in a recount-triggering finish, is seeking a second term against Petersen, who won the GOP nomination in July over Rodney Glassman.

The debate turned combative over law enforcement, with Petersen citing Mayes' past comments about masked immigration agents, which drew criticism from police groups and Gov. Katie Hobbs, while Mayes countered by pointing to Petersen's legislative voting record on police-related bills. The candidates also clashed over immigration detention facilities, including a $1.2 billion federally funded expansion in Florence, ICE's role in Arizona, and how to handle young migrants brought to the country as children. They split over data centers, with Petersen favoring expansion under local control and Mayes urging caution. Their sharpest divide remains relations with Washington: Mayes has filed more than 50 lawsuits against the Trump administration over mail-in ballot restrictions, tariffs, and vaccine rules, while Petersen, a strong Trump supporter, has pledged to drop those challenges if elected. Polling from AARP and Noble Predictive Insights shows Mayes with a modest lead, with about one in five voters still undecided.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta has publicly pushed back on Paramount Skydance's tactics in the antitrust suit over its $111 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, calling a recent motion to force a $1.88 billion bond onto taxpayers a sign of "desperation" and dismissing threats to relocate Paramount out of California as ineffective pressure. Bonta, who leads 12 state attorneys general suing to block the merger ahead of a March trial, said he remains open to settlement talks but only through "structural," not "behavioral," remedies — such as divesting cable channels rather than pledging future theatrical output.

Bonta noted some shifting positions among stakeholders, with the DGA, IATSE and Cinema United now favoring settlement, though WGA, SAG-AFTRA and the Teamsters still oppose the deal. He said Governor Newsom and gubernatorial candidate Xavier Becerra's comments favoring negotiation align with his own preference to resolve disputes outside court, while insisting the case remains a straightforward antitrust matter unaffected by press-freedom concerns over CNN or CBS News ownership. Arizona lawmakers continue to scrutinize taxpayer exposure from the bond dispute.

Arizona's attorney general race pits Democratic incumbent Kris Mayes, who won the seat by just 280 votes in 2022, against Republican Warren Petersen, the state Senate president since 2021. Mayes points to actions against scams, fentanyl trafficking, corporate mergers and rising rents, while Petersen has campaigned on restoring the office's focus on crime, fraud and corruption, backed by endorsements from major law enforcement organizations.

Donald Trump looms large over the contest. Mayes has joined multiple lawsuits against Trump administration policies, including mail-in voting restrictions, tariffs and vaccine rules, and has defended abortion access after Arizona's near-total abortion ban was upheld. Petersen, a strong Trump ally who helped launch the 2020 election audit in Maricopa County, supports the abortion ban, backs restrictions on transgender athletes, and has pledged to support mass deportations. Polling shows Mayes with a modest lead, but with a large share of undecided voters, the race is expected to be one of Arizona's closest statewide contests this cycle.

A new poll from Noble Predictive Insights offers the first comprehensive look at Arizona's key statewide down-ballot races ahead of November. Democratic incumbent Adrian Fontes leads Republican Alexander Kolodin by 6 points in the secretary of state race, while Democratic incumbent Kris Mayes holds a similar 6-point lead over Republican Warren Petersen for attorney general; both contests have roughly 20% undecided voters and a margin of error near 3%. The superintendent of public instruction race is tighter, with Republican Kimberly Yee leading Democrat Teresa Leyba Ruiz by just 3 points.

Political consultants from both parties say all three races remain competitive with weeks to go. Analysts point to Yee's name recognition from her time as state treasurer, Mayes' crossover appeal among moderate Republicans, and lingering effects of Petersen's contentious primary as key dynamics. Both sides agree independent voters will likely decide the outcomes, making these races worth watching for prediction markets tracking Arizona's statewide offices.

A new HighGround poll shows Democrats ahead in Arizona's top statewide races one week before Election Day. Gov. Katie Hobbs leads Republican Andy Biggs, Democrat Adrian Fontes leads Republican Alexander Kolodin for secretary of state, and Democrat Kris Mayes leads Republican Warren Petersen for attorney general. The results are notable in a state where registered Republicans outnumber Democrats by roughly 300,000 voters.

Leading GOP candidates have embraced or been endorsed by President Donald Trump, which helped in primaries but appears to be a drag in the general election as Trump's approval rating has slipped. Analysts note undecided voters remain limited, though races could still tighten before polls close.

A new HighGround poll shows Arizona Democrats leading Republicans across every major statewide race, despite the GOP holding a roughly 300,000-voter registration advantage in the state. Gov. Katie Hobbs leads Republican Andy Biggs by 17 points, Secretary of State Adrian Fontes leads Alexander Kolodin by 12 points, and Attorney General Kris Mayes leads Warren Petersen by 15 points. Democratic candidates for treasurer and superintendent also show high single-digit leads.

HighGround President Chuck Coughlin, whose firm is widely regarded as Arizona's top pollster, said the results surprised even him, estimating that 25-30% of Republican voters are not backing their party's candidates. Some voters cited dissatisfaction with President Donald Trump and GOP leadership as a motivating factor. The Biggs campaign disputed the poll's credibility, pointing to Coughlin's firm's ties to a group funding pro-Hobbs advertising; Coughlin said the poll was self-funded. With three weeks until Election Day, the findings add uncertainty to several closely watched Arizona races.

Arizona Republican lawmakers say they remain unsatisfied with Attorney General Kris Mayes' conclusion that no criminal charges will be filed over allegations that Gov. Katie Hobbs' administration engaged in a pay-to-play scheme. The claims center on whether Hobbs' office granted Sunshine Residential Homes, a group home operator, a special rate increase after the company donated more than half a million dollars to Hobbs' inauguration and the state Democratic Party.

At a Capitol news conference, GOP leaders including Senate President T.J. Shope and Sen. David Farnsworth argued the AG's finding of no crime doesn't resolve whether taxpayer money was misused or the process was fair, citing a former Department of Child Safety deputy director who questioned the rate hike's justification. Hobbs' office and Sunshine Residential dismissed the news conference as election-year political theater, noting the two-year investigation found no wrongdoing. Separate reviews by the state Auditor General and the Maricopa County Attorney's Office remain ongoing, keeping the controversy alive ahead of the 2026 election.

Jakob Blodgett, a 9-year-old with Type 1 diabetes, died in 2022 after staff at an Arizona group home run by Sunshine Residential Homes missed two doses of his long-lasting insulin and told an employee to give him water instead of medication. He developed brain swelling and died on a ventilator. Despite a licensing violation from the Department of Child Safety, the state imposed no fines, suspension, or license revocation, and no criminal charges have been filed, though a sheriff's investigation continues.

The case has become entangled in Arizona politics ahead of Gov. Katie Hobbs' reelection bid. Sunshine, the state's largest group home provider, made $550,000 in political contributions benefiting Hobbs, including gifts to her inaugural and legal defense funds, before receiving a 30% rate increase. Attorney General Kris Mayes found no evidence of bribery, attributing the increase to Sunshine's leverage as a dominant provider. Republican challenger Andy Biggs has seized on the scandal, while a state auditor general investigation and a county attorney probe remain ongoing. A separate diabetic teen died at another Arizona group home in 2024.

Roughly two dozen Democratic-led states and the District of Columbia, including Washington, Wisconsin, California and Pennsylvania, filed a new lawsuit against the U.S. Postal Service on August 26, challenging a rule implementing President Trump's executive order limiting mail-in voting ahead of the midterms. The suit, filed in a Massachusetts federal court, comes days after the Supreme Court lifted an injunction blocking part of the order, ruling the earlier Democratic challenge was premature rather than affirming its legality. California's suit followed shortly after, with Attorney General Rob Bonta calling the rule a "clear violation of the Constitution" and citing the state's heavy reliance on mail voting.

The USPS rule requires states to register mail voters into a new USPS database and get federal approval for ballot envelope designs featuring digital barcodes before ballots can be delivered; USPS says it won't deliver ballots to voters absent from the list or in noncompliant envelopes. State officials argue the rule violates the Constitution's assignment of election authority to states and risks disenfranchising voters this close to the election. The coalition seeks a temporary restraining order. Trump's original order remains blocked under a separate injunction, and the administration defends the rule as an election-security measure, though it remains unclear whether it will affect November's elections.