Want Drama Independents? GOP Primaries Have It and More

A family member who shall remain nameless hasn’t yet made her ballot selection for the upcoming July 21 statewide primary. As an independent, she’s allowed to vote in either the Republican primary or the Democratic primary. But she has to choose one. And she has to send her choice to the county recorder.

She should choose the Republican primary. And you should too if you’re an independent.

I say this not because I’m a Republican. And not because I want your help in returning the Arizona Republican Party to one of principled statesmen (e.g. Doug Ducey, Jeff Flake, John McCain, Jon Kyl) instead of its current composition of carnival barkers, opportunists and idolators (although help is very much needed).

Rather, I say this because the Republican Party primary is objectively more interesting.

What makes the Republican primary more interesting?
Arizona doesn’t have a U.S. Senate race on the ballot for the first time since 2014. The three main statewide offices – governor, attorney general, secretary of state – are all occupied by Democrats (Katie Hobbs, Kris Mayes and Adrian Fontes) who are all seeking a second term and are unobstructed by primary challengers.

On the Republican side of the ledger, things are quite saucy. The Republican primary for attorney general pits current state Senate President Warren Petersen against longtime electoral aspirant Rodney Glassman. Political insiders might think that Petersen will easily win. After all, Petersen wields a position of significant political power and has never lost an election. Glassman has, in the last eight years alone, unsuccessfully vied for Corporation Commission, Maricopa County attorney, Maricopa County assessor and attorney general.

But no normal Arizonan can name a single state legislator, even the senate president, and Glassman has been on the ballot so many times that many Arizonans probably assume he’s an incumbent. Added to that, Glassman has raised his usual eye-popping amount of money: $4 million on hand as of the last financial report, compared with $1.5 million for Petersen and $2.6 million for Mayes.

Why is the Arizona attorney general race a hot topic?
Put this all together and you have a close race. A January 2026 poll by Center for Excellence had Petersen at 16%, Glassman at 15%, and the rest undecided. A late-February poll from Noble Predictive Insights found Petersen at 13% and Glassman at 12%.

The campaign rhetoric reflects the hot competition. Glassman never misses an opportunity to mock Petersen’s lack of legal experience (“Petersen has never been a full-time attorney, prosecuted a criminal, or ran a law office. He only became an attorney 28 months ago”) or to accuse Petersen of legislative pork projects and funding the “insane” attorney general (Mayes).

Petersen has called Glassman “shamelessly dishonest” and other casual insults. But most of Petersen’s dirty work has been done by campaign supporters like former Maricopa County sheriff Joe Arpaio, who recently wrote, “Unlike ‘Fraudney,’ Warren (Petersen) did not switch parties multiple times, work for Raul Grijalva … (or) get accused of plagiarism … (Glassman) is a desperate political opportunist with no principles, no consistency, and no business pretending to be conservative.”

Arizona secretary of state race is equally spicy
The Republican primary for secretary of state is similarly up-for-grabs and similarly heated. The February poll from Noble Predictive Insights had state representative Alex Kolodin at 17% and former Arizona Republican Party chairwoman Gina Swoboda at 16%.

Neither has won a competitive general election before, and neither has raised large amounts of money. As of March 31, Kolodin had $300,000 on hand; Swoboda only $60,000 (the incumbent, Fontes, had nearly $800,000).

But what they lack in resources, they make up for with words. In a debate hosted last week by Arizona PBS and Ted Simons, Swoboda criticized Kolodin for never having worked in elections (“It’s one thing to sponsor a bill; it’s another to actually know how to run the software and the systems”) and said, “(Kolodin would) get destroyed in the general election (against Fontes).”

Swoboda has previously called Kolodin, “a disaster (and) an unethical jerk,” reminding voters that Kolodin was admonished by the Arizona State Bar Association for unethical behavior as a lawyer. As for Kolodin’s suitability for the job: “He does not respond well under pressure. (The secretary of state) job is nothing but pressure,” Swoboda recently said.

Kolodin has mocked Swoboda for dropping out of a campaign for Congressional District 1 after she raised very little money and commanded little support. He regularly calls her a Democrat, criticizing her for donating to Hillary Clinton in 2015 and having previously worked for Katie Hobbs at the Secretary of State’s Office. Kolodin’s ally, state Senator Jake Hoffman has accused Swoboda of allying with “radical Tucson progressives” and of negotiating suspiciously lucrative, but ill-defined personal contracts with the state legislature while chairwoman of the Arizona Republican Party.

Can’t leave out the Republican race for governor
According to most polls, the Republican primary for governor isn’t as close. But it still offers drama. In March, U.S. Rep. David Schweikert accused his opponent, Rep. Andy Biggs, of associating with anti-Semitic and extremist groups like the Proud Boys. Schweikert claims he’s the “actual conservative,” not somebody “running on resentment and grievances.”

Biggs consistently belittles Schweikert as “desperate,” and suggests that while he, Biggs, has direct access to Trump, the president wouldn’t even take a call from Schweikert. Biggs’s allies at Turning Point have hounded Schweikert online, pressing him to drop out of the primary.

Wait, Arizona has lizard people?
And the fun doesn’t stop with these three races. Recent debates between Tom Horne and Kimberly Yee for superintendent of public instruction included discussions of Rolex watches, alleged chaos at the superintendent’s office and allegations of “vanity campaigns.”

If I’ve convinced you at this point, and you’re registered in Maricopa County, go to Request.Maricopa.Vote. Again, this is only for independents (party not declared).

If I haven’t convinced you yet, then I’ll offer this parting shot: Teletubbies, hallucinations, psychedelic drugs and lizard-people have all been referenced in the Republican primary for State Legislative District 3.