PEORIA, Arizona – Over a couple hundred people attended a rally Thursday evening in the West Valley for Senate President Warren Petersen (R-Mesa), who is running for attorney general against Kris Mayes. The event, which was held at TYR Tactical, featured numerous prominent politicians, showing that Republicans are coalescing around Petersen early on.
Jason Beck, mayor of Peoria and founder and owner of TYR Tactical, opened the event telling the crowd that his company makes all the vests for ICE, prompting loud cheering. Beck said he started the company 26 years ago and grew it to a size where he can use it to “reach out to conservatives” and “host people.”
Mike Broomhead, a radio talk show host on KTAR, emceed the event with his usual humor. He instructed the speakers, “Be brilliant, be brief, be gone.”
Maricopa County Superintendent of Schools Shelli Boggs introduced a group of “Women for Warren,” including an Hispanic woman who had just received her citizenship.
Monica Yellen, who previously served as a media surrogate for President Donald Trump and on his Latino advisory board, said the way to recruit Hispanics into the party is to let them know that “free is different than freedom, or that progressive does not mean progress.”
Yavapai County Sheriff David Rhodes relayed how sheriffs worked with Petersen to get the ICE Act passed, expressing his appreciation for how important it is to work cooperatively with other law enforcement. Democratic Governor Katie Hobbs vetoed the bill in April.
Pinal County Attorney Brad Miller said Petersen “has essentially been the acting Attorney General for the state of Arizona for the past few years.” He added that Petersen has been forced to intervene in lawsuits against Arizona since Mayes won’t defend the state.
Former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio said, “Vote for him. Vote twice.” He then added that he was joking since he didn’t want to go to jail.
Maricopa County Supervisor Debbie Lesko said she served with Petersen in the Arizona Legislature for six years, so she could vouch for his “integrity” and “proven track record” as a “strong conservative leader.”
Former legislator Anthony Kern, one of the alternate electors for Trump being prosecuted by Mayes, drew laughs when he attempted to describe her, saying, “I don’t know what she is honestly.” He claimed that the 2022 election was stolen, and that Abe Hamadeh should be the attorney general instead of Mayes.
Representative Andy Biggs (R-AZ-05) appeared by video. He said he’d known Petersen for years, and trusted Petersen to enforce and defend the laws “against the far-left and their lawfare, and also against the encroachments of the federal government.”
Petersen spoke last, laying out his conservative credentials. He said whenever conservative organizations rate the legislators, he always comes in first, second, or third place in the Legislature. He emphasized his record on election integrity, which included signing subpoenas to Maricopa County and being threatened with jail time.
Regarding Mayes, he said she has sued Trump more times than she’s defended the state in lawsuits. Petersen said he has had to step into over 70 lawsuits against the state through the Arizona Legislature to defend the state since Mayes won’t — a number that continues to increase.
Contrasting himself with both Mayes and his Republican primary challenger, Rodney Glassman, he said he is the only candidate in the race who has never been endorsed by Planned Parenthood and who has visited the White House three times within the last four months.
Contrasting himself with Glassman, he said he has run for office seven times and won every time, whereas Glassman has run six times and lost all six times. Petersen said he receives more votes when he runs in his district than federal and statewide candidates on the ballot. He defeated Hobbs, Mayes, and Secretary of State Adrian Fontes in three court proceedings, and Mayes was ordered to pay him attorneys’ fees.
Petersen said almost twice as many people attended the rally as he had expected. He revealed how busy the campaign has been, having spoken at 35 events in the last two months, including eight events during a single 24-hour period.
He said it was a $3 million race, and he has raised $400,000 so far. His campaign has collected 2,500 signatures so far out of 7,000 needed. He encouraged people to sign his petition online, since those signatures won’t be invalidated, whereas signing the paper petitions results in about 30 percent of signatures being challenged and invalidated due to small errors people make.
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Rachel Alexander is a reporter at The Arizona Sun Times and The Star News Network. Follow Rachel on Twitter / X. Email tips to .
Photo “Warren Petersen” by Gage Skidmore. CC BY-SA 2.0.
The post Top Political Leaders Show Support at Senate President Warren Petersen’s West Valley Kickoff for Attorney General first appeared on The Arizona Sun Times.