One of the Arizona Democratic Party’s (ADP) political crown jewels has been arrested for breaking into a former romantic partner’s home with a knife.
Phoenix police arrested Brianna Westbrook, 41, former ADP vice chair and current education coordinator, last Friday for allegedly breaking into a former partner’s home brandishing a knife and carrying gloves and duct tape.
Westbrook, formerly a Peoria-area car salesman named Mike McDanel, allegedly forced himself into the victim’s residence, where he pushed the victim onto a couch. It was allegedly only after the victim screamed that Westbrook fled the scene.
Westbrook alleged that the incident was part of consensual roleplay, a “big misunderstanding” — a narrative the alleged victim denies.
A judge set Westbrook’s bond at $15,000.
Apart from the disputed nature of the alleged home invasion, Westbrook does have a history of advocating for violence.
As AZ Free News reported previously, Westbrook applauded a call for gun violence in the wake of the 2023 Nashville school shooting in which three children and three adults were slain by a transgender-identifying woman, Aiden Hale.
The year prior, Westbrook publicly expressed opposition to Blue Alerts, communications sent to the public and law enforcement notifying them of suspects who have assaulted, critically injured, or killed law enforcement officers.
It was around 2017 that Westbrook began a rise to prominence among Arizona Democrats as the state’s first federal elected official to identify as transgender. Westbrook told the Phoenix New Times that he began identifying as transgender about five years earlier at the age of 27. Westbrook once operated a YouTube account, since deleted, which reportedly documented his gender transition.
Westbrook has run for office multiple times since 2017, when he announced his campaign for what was then the 8th Congressional District as the first openly transgender candidate for federal office in Arizona.
Westbrook was not Arizona’s first transgender candidate overall: that title belongs to 2004 candidate Amanda Simpson, a Raytheon executive from Tucson who ran for the state legislature believed to be the first openly transgender presidential appointee. Neither could he claim the title as the nation’s first openly transgender federal candidate: that would be 2016 candidates Misty Snow, running to represent Utah in the Senate, and Misty Plowright, running to represent Colorado in Congress.
Westbrook lost in the general election to Republican candidate Debbie Lesko, the former congresswoman currently serving on the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors.
Following a protest in 2018 in the thick of a congressional campaign, Westbrook publicized his alleged mistreatment at the hands of the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office following his arrest for trespassing at former Republican Sen. Jeff Flake’s office.
Westbrook argued in an ACLU blog post that the sheriff’s office should have complied with his request to jail him with other women, not men. Law enforcement ultimately put Westbrook in a solitary cell, according to his account.
Westbrook went on to serve as a vice chair of the Arizona Democratic Party (ADP) from around 2019 to 2024.
Westbrook had also served as the at-large officer for Phoenix Democratic Socialists of America around the same time, and has belonged to the Democratic Socialists of America for years.
Westbrook ran for the Arizona House of Representatives in 2022, but lost the primary to former lawmakers Amish Shah and Jennifer Longdon.
In 2024, Phoenix Democrats nominated Westbrook and two others for the legislative seat vacated by Longdon. The County Board of Supervisors declined to select Westbrook.
As of this report, ADP has Westbrook listed as its education coordinator.
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Gov. Katie Hobbs stands accused of illegally commingling millions in funds to subsidize her campaign.
A letter sent by attorney Tim La Sota to Secretary of State Adrian Fontes earlier this month accuses the governor of commingling funds between her reelection campaign committee, Elect Katie Hobbs, and two other entities which submit funds to her campaign committee.
Elect Katie Hobbs and all other candidate campaign committees are restricted in the types of funds they may accept. Campaign committees must rely on what’s known in campaign finance parlance as “hard money,” or donations given by individuals directly to a political candidate, and cannot accept “soft money,” or donations or contributions collected into political action committees (PACs) from corporations or unions. Individual donations are limited to $5,500 per person.
The letter claims that Hobbs has used a PAC, which it claims to be hers, Copper State Values, as an unlawful repository for soft money to be used for Elect Katie Hobbs expenses. Allegedly, Copper State Values receives soft money funds from Hobbs’ joint fundraising committee PAC, the Katie Hobbs Victory Fund, and then sends the funds on to Elect Katie Hobbs and other political entities working to reelect Hobbs such as the Navajo County Democrat Party and the Arizona Democratic Party.
“Candidate contribution limits mean little if candidates can simply funnel money that the candidate herself cannot legally receive to a political action committee and turn around and have that political action committee pay for that candidate’s campaign expenses,” said the letter.
Since 2023, Elect Katie Hobbs has accrued more than $7.8 million and spent more than $4 million, Copper State Values has accrued more than $3.8 million and spent more than $2 million, and Katie Hobbs Victory Fund has respectively accrued and spent more than $1.8 million.
The letter further described Copper State Values as unusual since it lacked the typical hallmarks of a PAC, such as a political activity or a website. The PAC’s main activity appears to be the alleged shared expenses with Elect Katie Hobbs for which it pays, such as payroll, rent, and travel.
“The PAC seems to only function as a repository of monies that are then distributed to various left-wing entities, who will presumably help the Governor get elected — that and paying for expenses that legally must be paid by [Elect Katie Hobbs],” stated the letter. “[I]n terms of the PAC, it seems to do nothing but receive money and distribute money. It does not have any discernible political activity in terms of expenditures for express advocacy. It does not even have a website. And yet, it racks up hundreds of thousands of dollars in expenses, money that it reimburses to Elect Katie Hobbs.”
Hobbs’ reelection campaign manager, Nicole DeMont, serves as the chair of Copper State Values, and both Copper State Values and Elect Katie Hobbs share the same address, email address, and treasurer, Dacey Montoya.
The letter noted that Demont’s consulting firm, Monteverde Strategies, has received about $55,000 from Copper State Values. It also noted that Capital Strategies, a consultant for Hobbs, has received more than $198,000 from Copper State Values, though the consultant doesn’t disclose its relationship to the PAC on its website page for current and former clients.
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New expert analysis warns that the Arizona government’s plan to reduce the Salt River wild horse population to 120 horses could prove devastating to their continued existence.
The herd currently has approximately 274 horses, nearly half of what the herd was at its peak in recent decades.
Dr. E. Gus Cothran, equine population geneticist and professor emeritus at Texas A&M University, issued a statement expressing concern that the plan may prove detrimental to the future existence of the wild horses. Cothran says wild horse populations require 150 to 200 horses minimum for long-term genetic health, though no number can provide an exact guarantee on a herd’s survival.
“At the most basic level, 150 to 200 animals is a minimum number,” said Cothran. “This is the number that, if everything goes right and only population genetics is involved, should maintain genetic health for 200 years or so.”
Cothran said genetic testing of just 20–25% of the herd would allow for insight into the herd’s genetic health: approximately 55 to 70 horses.
Citing that assessment, advocates and community members have raised concerns that the state’s current plan of removal for the horses would have the potential for permanent and devastating impact to the wild horse population.
The Friends of the Salt River Wild Horses have asked Gov. Katie Hobbs to pause the permanent removals pending an independent genetic study and scientific review.
“Once that diversity is lost, it is gone forever!” said Friends of the Salt River Wild Horses in a statement. “Before a single horse is permanently removed, Arizona should demonstrate through independent science that the remaining herd will be genetically healthy and capable of surviving for generations. Friends of the Salt River Wild Horses calls upon Governor Hobbs to halt removals, to do the science, and respect the public process.”
Some contend the Arizona Department of Agriculture’s (AZDA) plan to remove these horses violates the Salt River Wild Horse Protection Act passed in 2016. The act empowers the state to exercise discretionary management of the horse population, with protections against the obstruction, chase, capture, removal, or euthanasia of the horses without government permission.
AZDA awarded the management contract to the Salt River Wild Horse Management Group (SRWHMG). The company is operating on a goal to reduce the herd size over the next five years through natural attrition, fertility control, and manual relocation, per a press release issued by AZDA in February.
SRWHMG has already been involved in population reduction efforts. They reduced the population from 450 horses using fertility control methods.
AZDA promised that all removed wild horses were only permitted for the relocation to approved sanctuaries — no horses may be donated, traded, slaughtered, or sold.
According to AZDA, the contract procurement process included input from an assessment panel consisting of veterinarians, a rangeland management scientist, and a federal wild horse manager.
AZDA Director Paul Brierley said the management plan represented the responsible promotion and protection of the “Salt River experience.”
SRWHMG President Simone Netherlands called the plan “a pragmatic compromise.”
Last month, the Arizona legislature failed to pass a proposed three-year moratorium on the herd reduction and mandatory study on the Salt River horses’ genetic diversity. The House passed the bill, SB 1199, but the Senate declined to pass it on concurrence.
Republican Reps. Juan Ciscomani (AZ-06) and David Schweikert (AZ-01) were among the founding members of the bipartisan Congressional Wild Horse Caucus last year.
These and other members of Congress have been pushing for the passage of the Wild Horse and Burro Protection Act, HR 4356, which would eliminate helicopter roundups.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Corrections adjust the name of “The Friends of the Salt River Horses” to “The Friends of the Salt River Wild Horses” and clarify that the Arizona Senate did not pass SB 1199 on concurrence.
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President Donald Trump has issued a select number of endorsements in Arizona races for the 2026 election.
The latest endorsements went to Rep. Juan Ciscomani to retain his seat in the 6th Congressional District, Rep. Paul Gosar to retain his seat in the 9th Congressional District, and Mark Lamb, former sheriff of Pinal County, for the seat opened by departing Rep. Andy Biggs in the 5th Congressional District.
Neither Ciscomani nor Gosar have opponents in their primaries. Lamb faces off against Daniel Keenan, a construction company owner, in the primary.
Trump’s endorsement bundle on Friday referred to Gosar and Lamb as “MAGA warrior[s],” and Ciscomani as “a tremendous champion.”
All three men, Trump promised, were capable of improving border security, stopping migrant crime, strengthening the military, bolstering economic growth, cutting taxes and regulations, boosting domestic manufacturing and energy, supporting law enforcement, and protecting Second Amendment rights.
Ciscomani will likely face off against Democratic candidate Joanna Mendoza.
I’ve stood with President Trump from Day 1 and I’ve never wavered, not once.
I’m honored to have President Trump’s “COMPLETE & TOTAL” endorsement for Governor of our great state of Arizona! 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/gGootCd6kV
Here are the other endorsements for Arizona candidates made by Trump so far:
Thomas “Jay” Feely, former NFL kicker, for the seat opened by departing Rep. David Schweikert in the 1st Congressional District. Feely faces off against former State Rep. Joseph Chaplik and technology consultant John Trobough in the Republican primary.
I’ve stood with President Trump from Day 1 and I’ve never wavered, not once.
I’m honored to have President Trump’s “COMPLETE & TOTAL” endorsement for Governor of our great state of Arizona! 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/gGootCd6kV
Rep. Abe Hamadeh received Trump’s endorsement to retain his seat in the 8th Congressional District. Hamadeh has no opponents in the primary.
Happy birthday, Mr. President!
My first endorsement from President Trump came on his birthday, June 14, 2022. Even on his birthday he was giving to others. I will never forget that phone call. Thank you for trusting me to be in this battle alongside you to save our country! pic.twitter.com/K1YetQTTGp
Andy Biggs received Trump’s endorsement for the governor’s seat held by incumbent Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs. Biggs has three other opponents: Schweikert and two businessmen, Scott Neely and Ken Miceli.
I’ve stood with President Trump from Day 1 and I’ve never wavered, not once.
I’m honored to have President Trump’s “COMPLETE & TOTAL” endorsement for Governor of our great state of Arizona! 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/gGootCd6kV
Other races have indicated some weigh-in from Trump, but no outright endorsements.
In the attorney general’s race, Trump reposted a county supervisor’s endorsement of Republican primary candidate Rodney Glassman sans commentary last month. Glassman is up against State Senate President Warren Petersen to determine who will face off against the Democratic incumbent, Attorney General Kris Mayes.
But in April, Trump gave Petersen a shout-out at the Turning Point Action (TPA) “Build the Red Wall” event. Trump said Petersen would “help achieve [the] victory” of expanding the “red wall” — the Republican majority.
Trump made a similar post in recent weeks in the secretary of state’s race. The president also reposted a picture sans commentary of another organization’s endorsement of Republican primary candidate Gina Swoboda, former chair of the Arizona Republican Party.
Swoboda took the repost as an outright endorsement, though the other Republican primary candidate in the race, State Rep. Alexander Kolodin, disputed that characterization. Kolodin was also given a shoutout at the TPA event in April.
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Republican Rep. Abe Hamadeh (AZ-08) has initiated the process to impeach a dual citizen judge appointed by former President Joe Biden for abuse of judicial authority.
Hamadeh filed a resolution that would remove D.C. District Court Judge Sparkle Sooknanan, a dual citizen of the United States and Trinidad and Tobago.
The congressman filed the articles of impeachment in response to Sooknanan’s recent ruling in League of Women Voters v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security to halt a federal program creating a centralized database of citizen information collecting existent agency data on citizenship status and Social Security numbers in order to prevent noncitizen voter fraud in federal elections.
In a press release, Hamadeh contended Sooknanan had gone beyond the limited powers of the judiciary by imposing desired policy outcomes.
“This is a blatant and unlawful subversion of the President’s executive authority and a direct assault on election integrity,” said Hamadeh. “Judges who weaponize their bench to interfere with the President’s constitutional duties must be held accountable.”
🇺🇸NEW🇺🇸
Congressman Hamadeh Introduces Articles of Impeachment Against Judge Sparkle L. Sooknanan
— Office of Congressman Abe Hamadeh (@RepAbeHamadeh) July 9, 2026
The database was an intended expansion of the preexisting Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) program, an online service administered by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services enabling federal, state, local, territorial, and tribal agencies to check immigration and citizenship status.
Under the expanded SAVE program, the system would include records of natural-born citizens, provide access to Social Security Administration (SSA) records, and permit bulk searches of system records.
The program expansion was designed as the vehicle to satisfy President Donald Trump’s March 2025 executive order to improve citizenship verification for federal elections.
The SAVE program has existed in some form since the passage of the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986. In fiscal year 2025, the program processed nearly 200 million cases.
Sooknanan ruled that the intended expansion of the SAVE program into a centralized federal database violated three federal laws: the Social Security Act for SSA record-sharing, the Privacy Act for non-consensual disclosure of certain personal information, and the Administrative Procedure Act for “arbitrary and capricious” agency actions.
The impeachment resolution accused Sooknanan of judicial overreach: “substituting the judgment of a single unelected judge for that of the duly elected Executive Branch.”
Sooknanan rose up to her appointment as a district judge following a stand she allegedly took against the first Trump administration, publicized by The New York Times. Sooknanan reportedly took her stand in November 2020 after the law firm she worked for at the time, Jones Day, took on Trump as a client for one of the 2020 election lawsuits, just months after she made partner. Sooknanan left the firm shortly after Biden was sworn in as president. In August 2022, The New York Times ran its article.
The New York Times appears to have given Sooknanan a special feature within its reporting. However, Sooknanan wasn’t identified as a source.
Yet, Sooknanan was the only partner identified by name and quoted from what was likely intended to be a private, internal videoconference call for Jones Day partners addressing the firm’s involvement with Trump. Sooknanan was also given a brief blurb summarizing her background and career accomplishments.
“Sparkle Sooknanan, one of the firm’s young stars, also spoke up. Born in Trinidad and Tobago, she had set out to New York at age 16, paid her way through college and law school and landed clerkships for federal judges, including Justice Sonia Sotomayor,” stated The New York Times article. “Sooknanan had become a Jones Day partner earlier in the year at age 36. Now, on the call, her voice trembled as she denounced the firm’s work in Pennsylvania. ‘This lawsuit was brought for no other reason than to deprive poor people of the right to vote,’ she said.”
Shortly after Biden took office in January 2021, Sooknanan left Jones Day to become deputy associate attorney general in Biden’s Department of Justice.
By August 2022, someone had provided the broad details of that fateful 2020 Jones Day videoconference call to the biggest paper in the nation, with just one direct quote reportedly made by, as it would turn out, an aspiring district judge allegedly willing to denounce her former employer for working with Trump.
Between her prior clerkship with liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor and her major media feature portraying her as a young, diverse, foreign-born lawyer willing to push back against Trump and cut ties with those allied with him, it appears Sooknanan may have been intentionally positioned as Biden’s ideal pick to take over a district court vacancy. Biden announced his intent to nominate Sooknanan to the D.C. District Court in February 2024.
During her confirmation hearing before the Senate, Sooknanan denied making those featured remarks in The New York Times.
“Those were not my words. I do not know who provided that quote to the reporter,” said Sooknanan.
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