Arizona Attorney General · 2026

The record matters more than the rhetoric.

Kris Mayes has spent more than a decade in statewide office, first as a utility regulator and now as Attorney General. Here is what she has said and done, drawn from public records, news coverage, and her own interviews. Every fact is numbered and links to its source.

Your utility bills

She wrote the utility tariff surcharge. Arizonans paid more for energy for 20 years because of it.

In 2006, as a member of the Arizona Corporation Commission, Mayes voted for the Renewable Energy Standard and Tariff (REST), a rule that let utilities add a surcharge to customers' bills to pay for renewable power. She helped write it, proposing amendments over two years.1 When it passed, she said: "Move over California."2

$2.3B

Collected from Arizona customers through the surcharge, according to the Corporation Commission, which voted unanimously to repeal the rule in March 2026.3

"I think people are ready for this surcharge and I think they actually want to pay this additional amount."

Kris Mayes, after voting to raise Tucson Electric Power bills, April 20084

She took the same view on water. In a 2009 television interview, she said Arizonans could "come together around this idea that maybe the price needs to go up."5

Law enforcement

When she suggested law enforcement could be shot, her own party demanded she take back her comments.

In January 2026, talking about masked immigration agents, Mayes told a Phoenix TV station that Arizona's Stand Your Ground law allows lethal force if you reasonably believe your life is in danger, and asked: "How do you know they're a peace officer?" She put ICE "officers" in air quotes and said, "I don't think they're real law enforcement."6

  • Gov. Katie Hobbs (D)Called the comments "inappropriate" and said Mayes "should retract them."7
  • Arizona Police AssociationCalled the remarks "reckless, irresponsible, and dangerous to the safety of all law enforcement professionals."8
  • Arizona Sheriffs' AssociationSaid "the Attorney General does not speak for Arizona law enforcement" and noted that officers are expressly exempt from the state's self-defense laws.9
  • Arizona Fraternal Order of PoliceDemanded a retraction and a public apology to officers.10
  • Her own officeDays later, the Attorney General's law enforcement liaison resigned.11

The Attorney General is Arizona's chief law enforcement officer. Words from that office carry weight, and they should lower the temperature, not raise it. Her dangerous rhetoric led all the major law enforcement associations to endorse her opponent.

Pay to play

A secret donor to the governor got a big rate hike and made millions off Arizona taxpayers. Mayes closed the case.

Sunshine Residential Homes runs more group homes for the state than any other company. It gave about $400,000 to Gov. Katie Hobbs's inaugural fund and the Arizona Democratic Party. Then the state gave Sunshine a $4,000,000 rate increase.12

The bribery investigation went to Mayes, a fellow Democrat.

  • June 2024A state lawmaker asked Mayes to step aside, pointing to her ties to Hobbs and the Democratic Party. She kept the case.13
  • August 2026Two years in, she closed it with no charges, but reviews by the Arizona Auditor General and the Maricopa County Attorney are ongoing.12
  • Late August 2026A separate report was released that concluded Mayes' left some things out: an allegation that Sunshine's CEO offered to put in a good word with Governor Hobbs to help the state's child welfare director keep his job, in exchange for a pay raise. That story was confirmed by a former Deputy Director at the agency.14

When a prosecutor clears her own party's governor, every allegation belongs in the report.

Judgment in office

Questions a prosecutor shouldn't have to answer.

An attorney general has to be trusted to treat friends, allies and opponents the same way. Two more episodes from Mayes's time in office raise doubts.

A no-bid contract for a friend

About a month after taking office, Mayes gave a close friend and campaign consultant a no-bid public relations contract. It paid nearly $248,000 over two years. In the same period, the consultant was paid about $67,800 by the Mayes campaign.1516

Working against Prop 314

Records reported by the Washington Free Beacon show her office coordinated with LUCHA, a group that has called to abolish ICE, while she opposed the Secure the Border Act.17 Arizona voters passed it with 62.6 percent.18

Arizona can do better.

You don't have to agree with every critic of Kris Mayes to see the pattern: higher costs she said we'd be glad to pay, comments that put law enforcement in danger, and decisions that raise questions about whose interests come first. Arizona needs an attorney general who enforces the law, is trusted by police, and puts the public interest ahead of everything else.

Get the facts: and access the full research document here.

  1. Arizona Corporation Commission, Decision No. 69127, Docket RE-00000C-05-0030, Nov. 14, 2006.
  2. Paul Davenport, "Ariz. Utility Regulators OK Stronger 'Green' Power Mandate," Associated Press, Nov. 1, 2006.
  3. Arizona Corporation Commission, "ACC Votes To Eliminate Renewable Energy Standard And Tariff (REST) Rules," Mar. 4, 2026.
  4. Alan Fischer, "TEP Bills Rise To Fund 'Green' Energy," Tucson Citizen, Apr. 11, 2008.
  5. "Arizona Horizon," KAET, Sept. 2, 2009.
  6. Interview with Kris Mayes, KPNX 12News, Jan. 20, 2026.
  7. Gov. Katie Hobbs press gaggle, via Arizona Republic, Jan. 29, 2026.
  8. Arizona Police Association statement on Attorney General Mayes' comments, as reported by 12News, Jan. 22, 2026.
  9. Arizona Sheriffs' Association, response to Attorney General Mayes' Stand Your Ground comments, Jan. 26, 2026.
  10. Arizona Fraternal Order of Police, letter to Attorney General Mayes, Jan. 24, 2026.
  11. Stacey Barchenger, "Kris Mayes' Police Liaison Resigns Amid Blowback To ICE Comments," Arizona Republic, Jan. 25, 2026.
  12. Jeremy Duda, "Mayes Clears Hobbs In Pay-To-Play Investigation," Axios Phoenix, Aug. 21, 2026.
  13. Arizona House of Representatives, Rep. David Livingston letter calling for recusal, June 10, 2024.
  14. David Iversen, "House Speaker Says Probe Clearing Sunshine Residential, Katie Hobbs Omitted Bribery Claim," KTAR, Aug. 31, 2026.
  15. "Arizona Attorney General Used Taxpayers To Give Close Friend No-Bid Contract For PR Consulting," Arizona Daily Independent, Sept. 1, 2026.
  16. "Arizona AG Accused Of Rewarding Political Ally With Nearly $250,000 No-Bid Contract," AZ Free News, Sept. 3, 2026.
  17. Collin Anderson, Washington Free Beacon, Sept. 21, 2026.
  18. Arizona Secretary of State, 2024 General Election Official Canvass.

Paid for by Friends of Warren Petersen. Authorized by Warren Petersen.