Journalists’ Roundtable: Arizona Attorney General candidates, Treasurer’s debate and more
Sept. 25
More from this show
It’s Friday, which means it’s time for the Journalists’ Roundtable, where we discuss Arizona politics. This week, “Arizona Horizon” host Ted Simons was joined by Mark Brodie of KJZZ, Jeremy Duda from Axios Phoenix and Wayne Schutsky of KJZZ.
The topics discussed this week included:
- Race heats up between Arizona Attorney General candidates Kris Mayes and Warren Petersen
- Elijah Norton and Nick Mansour’s Treasurer’s debate
- Superintendent of Public Instruction candidates on Arizona PBS
Arizona Attorney General candidates’ race heats up
Mark Brodie: “The words I keep hearing used to describe it are ‘testy’ and ‘chippy.’ Certainly, there are distinctions. There’s not a whole lot that those two candidates agree on. Kris Mayes talked a lot about the lawsuits that she filed. Warren Petersen was not thrilled with those, saying, ‘Why not let New York and California file those? You’re wasting Arizona tax dollars.’ Kris Mayes said, ‘When we win those lawsuits, we get money to the state.’ There’s a lot that they disagreed on, which is not surprising. Outside of a debate setting, there’s a lot that they also disagree on.”
Wayne Schutsky: “The consensus is that Kris Mayes came out on top in that debate. Petersen looked unprepared; he had his notes in front of him that he was referencing quite often. There were a few moments where he wasn’t able to respond off the cuff to insults and criticisms levied his way by the Attorney General. He had to keep going back to his notes. She seemed to be more prepared and authentic in that setting.”
Jeremy Duda: “Petersen seemed disorganized, looking down, like Wayne said. Mayes didn’t blow the doors off; she did a decent job making her case. In terms of the disagreements, it was pretty standard, partisan stuff. We’ve heard them a lot throughout the campaign: Petersen thought she spent too much time suing the Trump Administration. There were a lot of attacks on each other’s records, but pretty standard partisan stuff.”
