Gov. Katie Hobbs has signed an executive order prohibiting Arizona executive branch employees from using nonpublic government information to profit through prediction markets.
The governor signed Executive Order 2026-02 last week, directing covered state employees to refrain from disclosing or using information obtained through public service to earn profits, avoid financial losses, or help another person or organization financially benefit from prediction-market transactions.
Violations may result in dismissal, other employment sanctions, or referral to law enforcement, according to the order.
“Arizonans deserve a state government that works for them, not one where insiders exploit public service for their own gain,” Hobbs said. “I’m proud to set clear, commonsense ethical standards on prediction markets to hold our government accountable. Public service is a privilege, and we will not tolerate anybody abusing that privilege to line their own pockets.”
Prediction markets allow participants to trade contracts tied to the outcome of future events, including elections, government actions, military operations, weather, sporting events, and economic developments.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission describes event contracts as swaps that are often structured around yes-or-no outcomes. Their prices reflect market expectations, and contracts typically provide a fixed payout, usually $1, when the selected outcome occurs.
Hobbs’ order designates as confidential any nonpublic information obtained by covered executive branch workers that could be used to profit or avoid a loss through a prediction market.
That provision corresponds with Arizona’s conflict-of-interest law, ARS §38-504(B), which prohibits public officers and employees from using appropriately designated confidential information for personal profit during their government service and for two years afterward. The law also prohibits the unauthorized disclosure or use of information declared confidential by law.
The order covers employees and officers of the Governor’s Office, executive departments, state agencies and offices, and most state boards and commissions.
Its definition excludes agencies headed by a single independently elected state official, the Arizona Corporation Commission, and boards or commissions established by ballot measure during or after the November 1998 general election.
Hobbs encouraged other statewide elected officials, independent boards and commissions, and the legislative and judicial branches to establish comparable policies for their employees.
The order does not create an independent legal claim or remedy and cannot serve as the basis for challenging an action or inaction by a state agency, officer, or employee. It also states that the policy does not alter existing agency powers or override state or federal laws, regulations, or court orders.
The governor cited recent reports and a federal criminal case involving alleged use of government information to place wagers on military operations.
The U.S. Department of Justice announced in April that Army soldier Gannon Ken Van Dyke had been indicted for allegedly using classified information concerning a planned military operation in Venezuela to make wagers on Polymarket.
Federal prosecutors alleged that Van Dyke participated in planning “Operation Absolute Resolve,” a U.S. operation to capture Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, and placed approximately $33,034 in wagers while possessing nonpublic information about the mission.
Van Dyke allegedly profited approximately $409,881 after contracts concerning Maduro’s removal and the presence of U.S. forces in Venezuela resolved in Van Dyke’s favor. Prosecutors charged Van Dyke with violations of the Commodity Exchange Act, wire fraud, and conducting an unlawful monetary transaction. The charges remain allegations, and no conviction was reported in the Justice Department’s announcement.
In March, Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes filed 20 criminal charges against KalshiEx LLC and Kalshi Trading LLC, the companies behind the Kalshi prediction-market platform. Mayes alleged that the companies operated an unlicensed gambling business and unlawfully accepted wagers on elections.
In May, U.S. District Judge Michael Liburdi granted the Commodity Futures Trading Commission a preliminary injunction barring Arizona from enforcing its gambling laws through criminal or civil actions involving event contracts listed on CFTC-regulated designated contract markets. Liburdi found that the federal government was likely to succeed on its claim that the Commodity Exchange Act preempts Arizona’s gambling laws in that context.
Hobbs’ order took effect immediately upon signing and will remain in force until it is repealed, replaced, or rescinded by a future executive order.
Three Arizona Democratic congressional candidates received a combined $34,600 from Jonathan Soros, the son of billionaire political donor George Soros, and his wife, Jennifer, across the 2024 and 2026 election cycles, according to Federal Election Commission records.
JoAnna Mendoza, a Democratic candidate seeking to challenge Republican Rep. Juan Ciscomani in Arizona’s Sixth Congressional District, received a combined $14,000 from Jonathan and Jennifer Soros for the 2026 election cycle. Jonathan Nez, a Democrat seeking Arizona’s Second Congressional District seat, received another $14,000 from the couple.
Dr. Amish Shah’s congressional campaign received a combined $6,600 from Jonathan and Jennifer Soros during the 2024 election cycle. Shah was the Democratic nominee in Arizona’s First Congressional District that year and is seeking the seat again in 2026.
The contributions were publicly disclosed and fall within federal campaign-finance limits. During the 2025-2026 election cycle, an individual may give a candidate committee up to $3,500 for each election, with the primary and general elections treated separately. Two married donors can therefore contribute a combined $14,000 to a candidate participating in both elections. The individual limit was $3,300 per election during the 2023-2024 cycle.
The contributions represent a smaller, more direct form of Soros family involvement than Arizona has seen in previous election cycles. In 2016, the Associated Press reported that a Soros-funded political group contributed $2.3 million in the Maricopa County sheriff’s race, supporting Democrat Paul Penzone and running advertisements against Republican incumbent Joe Arpaio. Another Soros-funded group spent $1.3 million as the sole contributor to a group opposing Republican Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery. Penzone defeated Arpaio, while Montgomery won reelection against Democrat Diego Rodriguez.
The Soros political network also spent heavily on an Arizona ballot measure during the 2024 election. State campaign-finance records show the Open Society Action Fund contributed $1,999,999 to Arizona for Abortion Access, the committee supporting Proposition 139. The measure amended the Arizona Constitution to establish a right to abortion. George Soros founded the broader Open Society Foundations network, which includes the Open Society Action Fund.
Unlike those earlier expenditures, the money given to Mendoza, Nez, and Shah was contributed directly by Jonathan and Jennifer Soros to the candidates’ authorized campaign committees and was subject to federal individual contribution limits.
Jonathan Soros is an investor who previously served as president and deputy chairman of Soros Fund Management. He is also a director of the Jennifer and Jonathan Allan Soros Foundation and has participated in Democratic and progressive political organizations.
The contributions come as Mendoza and Nez have accumulated multimillion-dollar campaign accounts ahead of Arizona’s July primary election. The NRCC highlighted the contributions on X and cited comments from Arizona Republican Party Chairman Sergio Arellano published by the Arizona Daily Independent.
Arizona Dems pocket massive Soros checks while posing as ‘working class’
“Democrats love calling themselves the party of the working class,” Arizona Republican Party Chairman Sergio Arellano observed according to the Arizona Daily Independent. “That’s funny because they seem to spend a lot more time listening to radical billionaire donors than the people actually working overtime to pay the bills. Maybe that’s why hardworking Americans aren’t buying what they’re selling anymore.”
Mendoza’s campaign reported raising approximately $7.35 million and spending about $4.09 million through July 1. The campaign ended the reporting period with approximately $3.26 million in cash on hand. Mendoza is a retired Marine and former political consultant running against Ciscomani in a district Democrats have repeatedly targeted.
Nez, a former president of the Navajo Nation who unsuccessfully challenged Republican Rep. Eli Crane in 2024, reported raising approximately $3.52 million during the current cycle. His campaign spent approximately $1.67 million and reported about $1.91 million in cash on hand through July 1.
Shah’s campaign reported raising approximately $1.83 million during the current election cycle. The former Arizona state representative is competing for the Democratic nomination in the First Congressional District after losing the 2024 general election to Republican Rep. David Schweikert.
The National Republican Congressional Committee cited the Soros contributions while attacking Mendoza and Shah over their political positions.
“Democrat lobbyist JoAnna Mendoza and socialist Amish Shah sold out Arizona the moment they cashed these massive Soros checks,” NRCC spokesman Ben Petersen said in a statement. “These liberals serve the radical left-wing agenda of a billionaire family pushing dangerous socialist, defund the police, open borders policies.”
Two years after the attempted assassination of President Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, the Republican National Committee (RNC) is drawing attention to past remarks by Arizona Democratic congressional candidate JoAnna Mendoza in which she questioned the federal government and compared the United States to countries where democracy has collapsed.
Mendoza, a retired Marine running to represent Arizona’s Sixth Congressional District, made the statements during three separate political appearances released online between 2025 and 2026.
The RNC accused Mendoza of contributing to hostile political rhetoric surrounding Trump and connected her comments to the violence directed against him.
“JoAnna Mendoza continues to spew vile conspiracy theories and the extremely divisive rhetoric that have led to three assassination attempts against President Trump,” RNC spokesman Nick Poche said in a statement provided to AZ Free News. “Americans will never forget what happened in Butler, or the Democrats who refused to lower the temperature and tried to tear our nation apart.”
In the first video, released by LD18 Democrats, Mendoza questioned the reliability of federal intelligence while answering a question about the Middle East and Iran.
Mendoza criticized the Biden and Trump administrations’ handling of Israel, Gaza, and Iran before questioning whether the government possessed reliable intelligence about recent actions involving Iran.
“Can we even trust our intelligence agencies right now?” Mendoza asked. “Can we even trust our government to give us the correct information? And I think the answer to that is no.”
Mendoza said she was alarmed by what she described as the Trump administration’s actions in communities across the country and suggested that the nation’s democratic institutions were being eroded.
“It really scares me to think that, you know, what we’re seeing play out right now across our nation in communities, to see what this administration is doing, I never thought that I would see in the homeland,” Mendoza said.
“I never thought that I would see what has transpired happen here,” she continued. “You see it in countries like the ones I’ve been deployed to where democracy does not exist or has fallen.”
Mendoza did not identify a single policy or incident in that portion of the presentation. Rather, she broadly characterized the administration’s conduct as “unprecedented” and said she entered the race because she could no longer remain on the sidelines.
“What we’re seeing is unprecedented, and this is not the norm,” Mendoza said. “I just couldn’t stand by on the sidelines and watch this happen to our country or to its people, to us, to we the people.”
The third clip came from an interview with MeidasTouch host Ben Meiselas, who introduced Mendoza during a segment criticizing Trump and Republican Rep. Juan Ciscomani (R-AZ06).
During a discussion of border security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Mendoza questioned the training and conduct of ICE agents. Meiselas compared the administration’s practices to propaganda and tactics employed in other countries, and Mendoza agreed with the comparison.
“I know. It’s like we’re living in a third world country,” Mendoza said. “I mean, I’ve been deployed to countries who do not have democracy, who are in authoritarian regimes.”
“I never thought that I would see the government and its federal law enforcement agency turn against the American people,” she added, before alleging a pattern of misconduct involving ICE agents.
The RNC released the clips on July 13, two years after Thomas Matthew Crooks opened fire during Trump’s campaign rally near Butler.
Trump was wounded in the right ear. Former fire chief Corey Comperatore was killed while protecting his family, and rally attendees David Dutch and James Copenhaver were wounded, according to the Secret Service.
The FBI said in a 2024 statement that its investigation found no credible evidence that Crooks worked with co-conspirators. Investigators examined his electronic devices, searches, and online activity but did not determine a definitive motive.
The Associated Press reported that Crooks searched for campaign appearances involving both Trump and then-President Joe Biden and viewed the Butler rally as a “target of opportunity.” Reuters reported that his computer activity reflected a mixture of ideological interests without demonstrating a definitive left- or right-wing motivation.
Trump faced another assassination attempt on Sept. 15, 2024, when Ryan Wesley Routh positioned himself with a rifle near Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida. A federal jury convicted Routh in September 2025, and he was sentenced in February to life plus 84 months in federal prison. At trial, prosecutors presented a letter in which Routh described the incident as an assassination attempt and offered $150,000 to anyone who would “complete the job.”
Routh’s writings demonstrated explicit hostility toward Trump. The Associated Press previously reported that Routh had urged Iran to assassinate Trump in a self-published book and later wrote that “DEMOCRACY is on the ballot and we cannot lose.”
A federal grand jury has also indicted Cole Tomas Allen on charges including attempting to assassinate Trump during an April 25 shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner. Prosecutors alleged that Allen ran through a security checkpoint carrying a shotgun and fired at a Secret Service officer, striking the officer’s ballistic vest, as he moved toward the ballroom where Trump was located.
Reuters reported that Allen sent relatives a manifesto describing Trump administration officials as prioritized targets. Prosecutors alleged that Allen disagreed politically with Trump and wanted to “fight back” against government policies he considered morally objectionable. Allen pleaded not guilty, and the case remains pending.
Mendoza is seeking the Democratic nomination to challenge Ciscomani in November.
Mendoza is also facing questions from the RNC about salary payments she has received from her own campaign.
The Mendoza campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has issued two drought disaster designations covering several Arizona counties, making eligible farm operators in affected areas able to seek emergency loan assistance through the Farm Service Agency.
The designations name multiple Arizona counties as primary or contiguous natural disaster areas because of drought conditions, according to an announcement from Rep. Eli Crane’s office. The first designation, issued June 29, named Coconino and Maricopa counties as primary natural disaster areas. Gila, La Paz, Mohave, Navajo, Pima, Pinal, Yavapai, and Yuma counties were listed as contiguous counties.
In a post to X on Wednesday, Crane wrote, “The @USDA’s drought designations give our farmers and ranchers access to meaningful financial support during a difficult period. I appreciate @SecRollins and her team for recognizing the seriousness of these conditions and taking action.”
The @USDA’s drought designations give our farmers and ranchers access to meaningful financial support during a difficult period.
A second designation elevated Gila, Pinal, and Yuma counties to primary status. Coconino, Graham, La Paz, Maricopa, Navajo, Pima, and Yavapai counties were listed as contiguous counties under the second designation.
The determinations were made under 7 CFR 759.5(a), which provides for Secretarial disaster area designations when any portion of a county experiences D3, or extreme drought, or higher during the growing season, or D2, or severe drought, for at least eight consecutive weeks during the growing season of affected crops.
The Arizona Department of Water Resources says the U.S. Drought Monitor is the official record for federal drought relief claims. The department’s drought status page said Arizona’s Drought Monitoring Technical Committee advises U.S. Drought Monitor authors on current drought conditions in the state using precipitation, streamflow, drought indices, and impact data.
ADWR’s May drought status summary reported that severe short-term drought had advanced in Mohave, Coconino, Navajo, Gila, Maricopa, and Yavapai counties, covering 60% of the state, while extreme short-term drought expanded in Apache County. The department’s long-term drought update for January through March said Arizona experienced the hottest and 28th driest January-to-March period on record, as well as the hottest and 27th driest four-year period from April 2022 through March 2026.
Crane said the designations will give agricultural producers in affected counties access to federal assistance after years of drought pressure in rural Arizona.
“For years, rural Arizonans have faced worsening drought conditions without adequate federal assistance,” Crane said. “These designations finally give our farmers and ranchers access to meaningful financial support and help our producers during a difficult period.”
Crane thanked Agriculture Secretary Rollins and the USDA for recognizing the drought conditions and urged eligible applicants to work with their local Farm Service Agency office to determine whether low-interest loans could help offset recent losses.
Under Section 321(a) of the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act, USDA may extend disaster designations beyond counties that meet the drought criteria directly by naming neighboring counties as contiguous disaster areas. Crane’s office said both primary and contiguous classifications make farm operators eligible to be considered for FSA emergency loan assistance.
The FSA stated that emergency loans may be used to replace essential items such as equipment or livestock, reorganize a farming operation, or refinance certain debts. The agency reviews loan applications based on the extent of losses, available security, and repayment ability.
Farmers and ranchers in the affected counties have eight months from the date of their county’s listing to apply. Crane’s office said applicants should contact their local FSA office for help with the application process and required documentation.
Applicants with questions may also email FPAC.BC.Congressional@usda.gov and reference disaster designation number 2026N00000369 for the June 29 announcement or 2026N00000419 for the Monday announcement.
The National Republican Congressional Committee and Rep. Juan Ciscomani (R-AZ06) announced the opening of a new campaign field office in Sierra Vista as Republicans expand their ground operation in Arizona’s competitive Sixth Congressional District.
The NRCC described the office as a “Battlestation” that will serve as a hub for the grassroots effort to reelect Ciscomani. The committee said the office is part of a multimillion-dollar national investment intended to reach voters directly in competitive districts.
The NRCC said in a May campaign memorandum that more than 20 Battlestation offices were already operating across the country, with additional locations planned. The committee said the offices help candidates sharpen their campaigns and drive turnout through sustained voter contact.
After our amazing 250th celebration over the weekend, #TeamCiscomani was back on the road in Sierra Vista for the NRCC AZ06 BattleStation Office Grand Opening!
The energy is ELECTRIC in Cochise County! So grateful for the dozens of supporters who came out and thankful for their… pic.twitter.com/ruqFBP1S5K
“Twenty years ago, I became a United States citizen, and like everyday Arizonans, we’ve worked hard for what we have,” Ciscomani said. “That’s why I’m committed to working for the people we represent, and making their lives better.”
“From lower taxes for working people to bringing our tax dollars back to our community for law enforcement and roads, I am committed to putting Arizona first,” he added. “I’m grateful to the Cochise County community for their continued support as we work to make sure every Arizonan has the opportunity to achieve the American Dream.”
NRCC spokesman Ben Petersen said the office reflects the committee’s commitment to keeping Ciscomani in Congress.
“This Battlestation builds on our commitment to re-elect Representative Juan Ciscomani so he can continue taking on corruption and delivering wins like the largest working-class tax cut in generations,” Petersen said. “In stark contrast, Democrat lobbyist Joanna Mendoza showed she is completely out of touch, calling for tax hikes and higher costs while pushing far-left transgender policies.”
Mendoza has faced renewed criticism for a now-deleted video interview with the executive director of Equality Arizona in which she called for the decriminalization of prostitution, particularly for transgender women of color.
⚠️Arizona Democrat Joanna @Mendoza4AZ said “YES” to legalizing prostitution to benefit “trans women of color.”
Mendoza in 2020 interview with far-left group: “Yes…we need to stop criminalizing people for their situations.”
Mendoza, a retired Marine Corps drill instructor and former staff member for Democratic Rep. Tom O’Halleran, is the only Democratic candidate who qualified for the district’s July 21 primary election. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee selected her for its Red to Blue program in February, giving her access to additional organizational, strategic and fundraising support.
Ciscomani was first elected to Congress in 2022 and won a second term in 2024 after defeating former Democratic state Sen. Kirsten Engel for the second time. The district covers much of southeastern Arizona, including portions of Tucson and Pinal County, and extends east to the New Mexico state line while including part of the Arizona-Mexico border.
The 2026 contest has attracted national attention because of its potential role in determining control of the closely divided House. Mike Noble, CEO of Noble Predictive Insights, told 13 News in April that the race would draw significant outside interest.
“Sit back, you’re going to watch one of the most competitive races in the country, and Arizona voters in the southern district will decide not only who wins that district, but probably who controls Congress,” Noble said.
The candidates have also accumulated multimillion-dollar campaign accounts. According to the Federal Election Commission, Ciscomani’s campaign reported approximately $6.17 million in total receipts and $4.14 million in cash on hand through July 1.
🚨Q2 Fundraising💪
JoAnna Mendoza is burning through CASH—spending more than she raised = 112% burn rate.
Meanwhile, thanks to our incredible supporters, we have a $1 MILLION cash-on-hand advantage.
Mendoza’s latest available FEC financial summary, covering activity through March 31, showed approximately $5.34 million in total receipts and $3.51 million in cash on hand. The two summaries cover different reporting periods.
