PHOENIX – Democratic Attorney General Kris Mayes invoked her 280-vote victory four years ago as she urged Democrats to turn out and vote in the upcoming midterm elections, while Republican challenger Warren Petersen cast the incumbent as soft on crime.

“Let’s go, let’s fight shoulder to shoulder, let’s ride at dawn and let’s win in November,” Mayes shouted to a crowd of more than 100 supporters at a Democratic club event in Goodyear on Saturday. 

A day earlier, at a Republican forum in Tempe, Petersen said the attorney general’s office should put public safety and freedom first, asserting that Mayes has failed to do so.

“I’m more serious about public safety,” the Gilbert senator said in an interview. “I prioritize it.”

The events on opposite sides of Metro Phoenix gave the attorney general rivals and other candidates an opportunity to rev up supporters before early voting begins Oct. 7, and showcased the philosophical choices facing voters.

Republican candidates at the Sept. 18 “Your Family on the Ballot” forum, hosted by the Center for Arizona Policy Political Action Committee and Women of Action-AZ, emphasized law enforcement, conservative values and economic opportunity. Democratic candidates focused on consumer protections, water and preserving democracy at their forum.

Petersen, president of the Arizona Senate, said his love of freedom and public safety motivated his run for statewide office. He cast his experience leading the Senate and role in over 130 cases as preparation to become the state’s top legal officer.

“I’ve been called the de facto AG,” Petersen told Cronkite News.

Petersen pointed to endorsements from several law enforcement groups as evidence of support for his agenda. The Mayes campaign also touts endorsements from law enforcement leaders.

He also argued that his record shows he can work with Democrats, citing four budgets enacted since Gov. Katie Hobbs took office.

“Obviously, we don’t agree on a lot of things ideologically, but we’ve had a relationship where we agree to disagree,” he said.

Mayes, speaking to Democratic voters, highlighted consumer-protection actions during her tenure. She said her office has taken on landlords, technology companies and utilities while also challenging the Trump administration.

She touted a 2024 lawsuit against RealPage, a property management software company, and nine landlords, alleging they used nonpublic rental data to coordinate rents in violation of state antitrust and consumer protection laws. One defendant, Weidner Property Management, settled for $1 million without admitting wrongdoing.

Mayes’ office has been part of more than four dozen legal fights against the Trump administration, working with other Democratic attorneys general to challenge tariffs, election restrictions, demands for voter lists and the president’s effort to redefine birthright citizenship. The most recent lawsuit on her website, filed Aug. 16, challenges the administration’s demand for a database with personal information on 17 million commercial drivers.

Mayes also reiterated her call for Arizona to halt new data center approvals and construction, citing pressure on water and other infrastructure.

“We need a moratorium on data centers in the state of Arizona right now,” she said. “Let’s take a pause and figure out what our situation is.”

Petersen, like Hobbs, supports a moratorium on tax breaks for data centers but opposes a pause on construction.

The difference between the candidates was as much about the role of the office as it was about individual policies. Petersen presented the attorney general as a defender of state laws focused on public safety, while Mayes emphasized fighting corporate power and the Trump administration.

In interviews, down-ballot candidates at the Tempe and Goodyear events echoed those themes while bringing in their own local concerns.

David Richardson, the Republican nominee for one of two state House seats in Legislative District 12, said water and affordability were the two issues he hears most about from voters. He framed free markets and entrepreneurship as tools to expand opportunity, and said health care providers should be required to provide clear cost estimates before treatment, something technology makes feasible.

“I think it is unjust that patients have to consent to care, but they’re not consenting to a price,” Richardson said. “Then they get billed later.”

Michelle Altherr, the Republican challenging Democratic Sen. Brian Fernandez of Yuma in Legislative District 23, placed faith and representation at the center of her pitch. Altherr said she felt “the Lord’s calling” to run and wanted to be a conservative voice for district residents. 

At the Democratic event, Eric Stafford, who is challenging GOP Sen. Janae Shamp of Surprise in Legislative District 29, listed democracy, corporate ownership and housing costs among voters' concerns.

“People don’t want corporations to own everything and they don’t want to rent forever,” Stafford said.

Candidates on both sides pitched themselves as well-suited to attract voters unaffiliated with either party. That’s about 35% of the electorate, according to the Secretary of State’s office. 

Richardson said he has encountered many independents who say elections don’t matter because politicians from both parties are the same.

His answer to that, he said: “Well, try me.”

This article first appeared on Cronkite News and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.