Arizona attorney general primary election: Abe Hamadeh wins GOP race, will face Democrat Kris Mayes

​Corrections and Clarifications: An earlier version of this article misstated the length of appointments for Arizona Supreme Court justices. Justices face a retention election every six years and must retire at age 70.

The Trump-backed candidate for Arizona attorney general, Abe Hamadeh, has won the Republican primary.

The Associated Press called the race for Hamadeh on Wednesday morning, after he had led attorney Rodney Glassman and retired Supreme Court Justice Andrew Gould throughout Tuesday. The other Republican candidates trailed significantly.

Arizona voters decided the race from a crowded Republican field. Hamadeh will take on the sole Democrat running for state attorney general, Kris Mayes.

The field of relatively unknown politicians made the race a tossup, though Hamadeh's endorsement from Trump appears to have given him the edge in the campaign.

Election coverage: Live updates across Arizona | Arizona election results

On the Republican side, the other candidates included former U.S. Attorney’s Office border security section chief Lacy Cooper; Karsten Manufacturing corporate counsel Dawn Grove; and Eloy attorney Tiffany Shedd.

The primary was dominated by the issue of border security, which is sure to play a role in the fall, though the Supreme Court's ruling on abortion has made that an issue for the general election as well.

None of the Republican candidates had previously won public office, with the exception of Glassman in 2007 for the Tucson City Council when he was a Democrat. The race is divided between first-time candidates and candidates who have run multiple times for office.

Mayes does have statewide wins under her belt, winning election to the Arizona Corporation Commission as a Republican in 2004 and 2006.

The only other candidate who had held public office was Gould, who served in the non-elected position of state Supreme Court Justice. Gould relinquished his seat on Arizona's highest court to seek the office of attorney general.  

Election laws, abortion are big issues

The person at the helm of the Attorney General's Office is particularly critical on matters like abortion and elections.

The Supreme Court's June ruling on Dobbs kicks back to the states the authority to decide if abortions can be performed within its respective borders. An essential function of the next attorney general will be to oversee enforcement of the state's abortion laws.

Arizona has conflicting laws on the books regarding the procedure: one from pre-statehood days that bans nearly all abortions and another signed into law this year that would make most abortion after 15 weeks illegal. 

There is no consensus amongst Republicans over which one is the law of the state,

Further complicating the matter is Arizona's constitutional right to privacy, which is different from the U.S. Constitution in that the latter contains no stated right to privacy.

Current office: Mark Brnovich's Arizona news updates dominated by partisan cases

All the Republican candidates except Cooper said they would prosecute doctors who violated abortion laws, as women obtaining an abortion are immune from prosecution according to state law.

Hamadeh said that he believes a territorial law from 1864 that bans most abortions and includes penalties for providers is enforceable, citing an opinion from current Attorney General Mark Brnovich.

"The attorney general’s opinion on Dobbs is the correct legal interpretation. The role of the AG is to enforce the law as it is and not as they want it to be or think the policy should reflect. The Legislature passed a law this year that was signed by the governor, making it clear the territorial law remains in effect," Hamadeh said.

Mayes believes that abortion is protected under Arizona's Constitutional right to privacy and would not prosecute anyone involved in the process of a woman obtaining an abortion.

The attorney general also plays a part in certifying the election, along with the governor and secretary of state. Although no evidence exists to show vast fraud in the 2020 election, none of the Republican candidates would say that Joe Biden won Arizona.

Furthermore, Hamadeh — along with Glassman, Grove and Shedd — all said that they would not have certified election if they were in the shoes of Brnovich in 2020. Gould never answered the question.   

Cooper was the sole candidate who said she would certify the 2020 election results, given the information at the time. 

Where candidates stand on border

Border security dominated the GOP primary.

Glassman said state legislators should pass immigration laws, which may run afoul of federal law.

Gould said he would use state law to establish a "no trespassing zone," which would be the initial action for prosecuting cartels and confiscating drugs.

Gould's plan on trespassing was panned by the other candidates. Cooper disagreed with Gould's further assertion that suing the government to act on immigration issues was not effective. 

Cooper, who was endorsed by the National Border Patrol Council, said the attorney general can take legal action to compel Congress to enforce immigration laws. She believes that tactic could have more success given the Supreme Court's conservative majority.

Shedd said she firsthand experience dealing with the border as she resides near it. She calls for declaring the current situation at the border an invasion, a move that is supported by a few candidates, including Grove. 

Hamadeh says that cartels need to be designated as "terrorists."

While Mayes believes that immigration is under the purview of national government, she said she would do everything she could to hold the federal branch accountable. She also said she would work with all different levels of government to prosecute cartels.

Tara Kavaler is a politics reporter at The Arizona Republic. She can be reached by email at tara.kavaler@arizonarepublic.com or on Twitter @kavalertara.