Warren Petersen has jumped out with an early lead in his bid to become the Republican nominee for Arizona attorney general.
The earliest returns — coming from early ballots that were received and tallied before Election Day — showed close to 58% going for Petersen over Rodney Glassman.
The GOP contest for attorney general has focused heavily on who has the background to become the state's chief legal officer.
Petersen, who is the state Senate president, said he has experience in a criminal courtroom. That contrasts with Glassman whose trial record appears more confined to work he did prosecuting soldiers and airmen in military courts.
Glassman countered that Petersen's trial experience was as an intern in the Scottsdale City Attorney's Office, experience he got even before getting his state license to practice law.
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Petersen has shot back with the fact that he is the "de facto attorney general'' based on the fact he is the plaintiff in multiple lawsuits in which the Republican-controlled Legislature is either a party or has filed legal briefs, though he is not the actual lawyer going into court on any of these.
Glassman also has faced scrutiny about his changing political labels, including as a Democrat where he was elected under that banner to the Tucson City Council in 2007 and ran unsuccessfully against Sen. John McCain in 2010 before registering with the GOP in 2015.
Petersen, for his part, was involved as a senator in the so-called "audit'' of the 2020 presidential election amid claims that Donald Trump had outpolled Joe Biden in Arizona. That was not only never proven but a hand count of the ballots by the audit team showed Biden actually won by a larger margin than reported.
Glassman also has gone after Petersen for using his position in the Senate to propose changes in court rules on spousal maintenance after he was divorced.
The question of experience may not matter in the general election, with incumbent Democrat Kris Mayes herself having no actual trial experience.
