A champion for reproductive freedom.
A crusader for senior citizen protections from elderly home abuse and online scams.
A defender of public safety, presiding over the largest seizure of fentanyl within Arizona’s boundaries in history.
A proponent of protecting Arizona’s groundwater supply from foreign investors and the narrow-minded individuals in the state who allow this pillaging of resources to happen.
A fighter against fraudsters taking advantage of the largely unregulated Arizona Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) Private School Voucher Program.
An advocate against large trusts and price-gouging attempts to make life more expensive for Working and Middle Class Arizonans.
A battler against the Trump and MAGA authoritarian dreams to turn the clock back to a pre-New Deal, Great Society, and Affordable Care Act Gilded Age Era.
Since taking office as Arizona’s Attorney General in 2023 after winning her election in November 2022 by only 280 votes out of 2.5 million cast, Kris Mayes has earned a well-deserved reputation as a Lawyer for the People.
At a meeting of the Tempe Rising Indivisible Advocacy Group at the Escalante Community Center, Attorney General Mayes, after referring to herself as “Landslide Mayes,” outlined her case to the Progressive and Pro-Democracy Group on why she deserves re-election as a lawyer for all the people of Arizona.
Declaring herself “All in for the people,” Mayes, aided by a PowerPoint presentation, summarized all the acts she has taken during her term to protect Arizonans.
These include:
- Helping to get rid of the 1864 Civil War Era Abortion Ban and setting up a Reproductive Rights office.
- Unlike her immediate Republican predecessors, enforcing Arizona’s antitrust laws by preventing the merger of Kroger’s, Albertson’s, and Safeway, which would have raised prices on customers and taken away good-paying union jobs.
- Going after companies like Real Page that have colluded with landlords to take private data to raise rental and utility rates on their patrons.
- Challenging the Corporation Commission for not looking out for the interests of consumers in the matters of utility rate increases from Arizona Public Service and Tucson Electric Power
- Overseeing efforts to seize 27 million fentanyl pills and creating an office dedicated to going after human traffickers.
- Working to “Put an end” to Saudi Arabian agricultural interests gulping up tons of Arizona’s groundwater in La Paz County, which has left rural community residents in the area with empty wells and parched terrain.
- Protecting the elderly from scam artists and fraudsters trying to siphon their retirement savings in bitcoin fraud schemes.
- Berating the Trump/Vance Administration for “Insanely” taking Drug Enforcement Agents away from the border and sending them to go after “landscapers and maids” in the Midwest, who have made Arizonans “Less safe.” “Shame on them for actually endangering the people of Arizona,” Mayes said to the people at the meeting.
- Challenging and winning against Trump on his inflationary tariffs and unconstitutional attempts to do away with Birthright Citizenship.
- Securing funding, after winning in court, that Trump and his MAGA allies in the Executive Branch have held back programs like Meals on Wheels, AmeriCorps, Libraries, and Head Start.
On the threats from Trump that he will try to hinder their right to vote via Executive Order, especially the ability to send their ballots by mail, Mayes sought to reassure the audience, saying, “Donald Trump is not going to get his hands on vote by mail in this country” and “We are going to have a safe and fair election.”
She concluded her remarks by calling on the members of the audience, many of whom spend their off time working and protesting to protect Democracy, to continue to meet the urgency of this moment, saying:
“…Every time I file one of these lawsuits in your name, on your behalf, I find myself thinking about what previous generations of Americans who died and sacrificed for this country, I’m thinking about this moment. And I believe in my heart that those previous generations of Americans are speaking to us across the ages. And they are saying to all of us, fight, fight for your country, and do it right now. Because two years from now is too damn late. And so I also believe that once in a generation, Americans are called upon to stand up for our country and for our beautiful, irreplaceable Constitution and Democracy. And now is our time. We are that generation. And in some ways, we are blessed to be that generation. Just think about it. How many times are Americans called to stand up for our Constitution? Now is the time. We are that generation. And we have an opportunity…”
After taking questions from the audience where she praised a 15 year old McClintock High School Student for her civic engagement and addressing topics including Turning Point member provocations at Pro-Democracy events, and potentially illegal Dark Money influence during the recent Salt River Project Board Elections, Attorney General Mayes graciously sat with Blog for Arizona to answer questions about what priorities she would pursue if re-elected and how she hoped to win over Independents and Like Minded Republicans to her causer.
The questions and Attorney General Mayes’ responses are below.
Madam Attorney General, if you get re-elected, what will be two or three priorities that you’ll emphasize in a second term?
“I think we want to emphasize, you know, continue to emphasize antitrust and making sure, you know, making sure that corporations don’t get so big and greedy that they’re taking advantage of Arizona and so we’re going to continue to fight to make sure that we have competition in the state of Arizona and then I want to continue to fight against elder abuse and I want to hold AI companies accountable for the some of the terrible things that they are doing to our youth and the terrible dangers that they’re putting our kids in. So those are some of the things we want to focus on, and then of course, unfortunately, it looks like we’re going to have to continue to hold the federal government accountable and protect our Constitution from abuses coming from Washington, D.C. States have rights.
And ESAs?
“We absolutely are vigorously prosecuting fraud in the ESA program. As you know, we’ve prosecuted multiple individuals who have engaged in flat-out criminal fraud, making up ghost children, making up birth certificates and drawing down ESA funds and we are in the middle of a public monies investigation into the way Tom Horne is allowing people to spend up to $2,000 on anything that they want, which is why we’re seeing flat-screen TVs get bought, diamond rings, lingerie and even condoms. That’s got to come to an end, and so I think you’re going to see some things from our office soon, additional things to hold that program accountable.”
You’re going to be campaigning, obviously, around the state like the Secretary and the Governor. How do you appeal to those Independents and like-minded Republicans that are key to victory?
“I’m going to point out the fact that we have been tougher on crime than my Republican predecessors in a lot of ways, including going after the Mexican drug cartels and seizing more fentanyl than any other AG in the history of the state.”
“I’m going to talk about issues that matter to rural Arizonans, like protecting their groundwater from the Saudis and out-of-state corporations. They’re sucking the ground dry and hurting them, and I’m going to talk about, you know, protecting all Arizonans against fraud and against, you know, abusive corporations. So, you know, these are the pragmatic, practical things that Arizonans, that all Arizonans care about, whether they’re Republicans or Democrats or Independents, and that’s the track record that we have to show.”
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