President Jimmy Carter passed away on December 29, 2024, at the age of 100. His death followed nearly two years in hospice care and the death of his wife, First Lady Rosalynn Carter, at age 96 in November 2023. In response to Carter’s passing, Arizona political leaders of both the Democratic and Republican parties offered rare and non-partisan expressions of sympathy and mourning.
The Arizona Republican Party succinctly posted, “Rest in Peace President Carter,” a simple direct message to address the passing of a political opponent.
The Arizona Democratic Party meanwhile offered a lengthier post writing, “The Arizona Democratic Party mourns the passing of Jimmy Carter, a man of profound humility, compassion, and dedication to humanity. President Carter moved our nation forward, from brokering peace in the Middle East to championing women’s rights.”
The Arizona Democratic Party mourns the passing of Jimmy Carter, a man of profound humility, compassion, and dedication to humanity.
President Carter moved our nation forward, from brokering peace in the Middle East to championing women’s rights. https://t.co/4lPtyNCABt
Arizona Senate Democrats courted controversy in their post writing, “Rest in Power,” as opposed to the traditional “Rest in Peace.”
One commenter replied, “Rest in power? Don’t disrespect a legendary man by saying something he wouldn’t have said. Recognize him for who he was.” Another chastised the AZ Senate Dems writing, “What dei hire wrote this? Rest in power? Lame.”
Embattled Democrat Governor Katie Hobbs offered the following: “President Jimmy Carter lived an exemplary life of service, fighting for peace and prosperity across the globe. On behalf of the State of Arizona, we send our love to the Carter Family and the millions worldwide whose lives are better because of President Carter’s legacy.”
President Jimmy Carter lived an exemplary life of service, fighting for peace and prosperity across the globe.
On behalf of the State of Arizona, we send our love to the Carter Family and the millions worldwide whose lives are better because of President Carter's legacy.
Arizona’s Democrat Attorney General Kris Mayes wrote a lengthier post, sharing the story from The Washington Post: “America has lost a true servant leader. President Jimmy Carter’s century-long life was defined by his integrity, compassion, and an unwavering commitment to serving his country and his fellow man.”
She continued, “From his military service to his leadership in the White House — and his tireless work with Habitat for Humanity and global humanitarian efforts — he showed us what it truly means to live for others. Rest in peace, President Carter.”
From his military service to his leadership in the White House — and his tireless work with Habitat for Humanity and global humanitarian efforts — he showed us what it truly means to live for others. Rest in peace, President Carter.
Democrat Senator Mark Kelly highlighted Carter’s philanthropy after his presidency, in addition to his human rights work writing, “Always humble, President Carter showed us that public service isn’t limited to elected office. He leaves a legacy not just as a president, but as a great American who wore the uniform, built homes for his neighbors, and worked for human rights across the globe.”
Always humble, President Carter showed us that public service isn’t limited to elected office. He leaves a legacy not just as a president, but as a great American who wore the uniform, built homes for his neighbors, and worked for human rights across the globe. https://t.co/dSMsydpbBK
Senator-elect Ruben Gallego, like his fellow Democrat Kelly, offered a short post of condolences writing, “A life dedicated to peace, justice, and compassion. Rest in peace, President Jimmy Carter. Sydney and I send our heartfelt condolences to the Carter family.”
A life dedicated to peace, justice, and compassion. Rest in peace, President Jimmy Carter. Sydney and I send our heartfelt condolences to the Carter family. https://t.co/MGXbh7uyw3
Democrat Congressman Greg Stanton released a statement addressing Carter’s service as a naval officer, the Governor of Georgia, and his presidency. He wrote, “Above all, he was an honorable man with unimpeachable character. Guided by his deep Christian faith, he built homes for the needy and taught Sunday School well into his 90s. He set a fine example for each of us for what it means to love thy neighbor.”
On the Republican side of Congress, Congressman Andy Biggs called upon supporters to join in prayer “for the friends and family of President Jimmy Carter.” He wrote in full, “Please join me in praying for the friends and family of President Jimmy Carter. President Carter passed away this afternoon at the age of 100. I pray that peace surrounds all who knew and loved him. May he rest in peace.”
Please join me in praying for the friends and family of President Jimmy Carter.
President Carter passed away this afternoon at the age of 100.
I pray that peace surrounds all who knew and loved him. May he rest in peace.
Congressman-elect Abe Hamadeh also highlighted Carter’s humanitarian work writing, “Yesterday, we lost a great humanitarian. President Jimmy Carter was a proud Navy veteran and compassionate humanitarian. He dedicated his life to serving his country and community. His legacy of kindness will never be forgotten. Rest in peace, President Carter.”
Yesterday, we lost a great humanitarian. President Jimmy Carter was a proud Navy veteran and compassionate humanitarian. He dedicated his life to serving his country and community. His legacy of kindness will never be forgotten. Rest in peace, President Carter. pic.twitter.com/azzCQcfzn5
Carter’s upcoming state funeral is slated for January 9th and could potentially run for ten days until the 19th, just one day prior to the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump. Amidst calls from the radical left for Trump to be barred from the proceedings, Arizona’s political figures largely kept remarks on the death of Carter civil and solemn in an example the rest of the nation could hopefully follow.
The State of Arizona has engaged in legal battle against a Saudi Arabian firm: Fondomonte Arizona, LLC., on allegations that the agribusiness has violated public nuisance law by aggressively pumping groundwater from the Ranegras Plain Basin of La Paz County. The move could signal a split between Democrats Attorney General Kris Mayes and Governor Katie Hobbs whose chief campaign advisor is partnered with a lobbyist for the Saudi company.
Announcing the lawsuit on Wednesday, Mayes said the company, which enjoys a strong lobbying connection to Democrat Gov. Katie Hobbs, does not have “the right to endanger an entire community’s health and safety for its own gain,” according to KJZZ. She added, “The law is clear on that point.”
Mayes said the consequences are immediate and visible. She cited that the firm has operated in the Ranegras basin since 2014 and has several wells that pump up to 4,000 gallons of water per minute. She also shared that in 2023, it used approximately 31,196-acre feet of water.
“Fondomonte came to Arizona to extract water at an unreasonable and excessive rate because doing so was banned in its home country – another arid desert with limited water,” the lawsuit claims. “Fondomonte is taking advantage of Arizona’s failure to protect its precious groundwater resource.”
The Saudi firm called Mayes’ allegations “totally unfounded,” according to spokesman Barrett Marson.
“We believe the attorney general is setting a dangerous precedent attempting to penalize farming and the wider agricultural industry within the state of Arizona. The company complies with all state and local regulations.”
The amount of water drawn by the alfalfa farms is reportedly enough to serve approximately 93,000 single family homes. Neighboring wells serving homes less than a mile away went dry about five years ago. Mayes noted that the well for the Friendship Baptist Church a little under two miles away ran dry in 2017.
“The land is literally sinking in La Paz County with as much as 9.8 inches of subsidence documented in the immediate vicinity of Fondomonte’s farms,” she told reporters adding that under the nuisance law, action can be taken. However the AG pointed to what she described as the Arizona legislature’s failure to regulate the water use of corporate farms outside active management areas. “They have been completely AWOL when it comes to addressing rural Arizona’s water needs and these situations where people are being harmed,” she said, according to the outlet.
According to the Associated Press, Mayes said, “While laws regulating groundwater pumping could have prevented this situation, the legislature’s inaction has allowed the crisis to grow. When the legislature fails to protect our most basic resources, the attorney general must step in.”
Republican La Paz County Supervisor Holly Irwin praised the move, while castigating Arizona lawmakers for failing to weigh in. “That is why we are seeing foreign companies come over to these areas, purchase land and pump water out so that they can supplement their alfalfa and send it back home,” said Holly.
“Attorney General Kris Mayes is the first one who has stepped up and done anything about it. I know my constituents will be thrilled that somebody’s actually paying attention to the real problems here, which are wells that are going dry, the land subsidence that we’ve seen, and the concern that we have for the future of our basin.”
In March, Fondomonte was reportedly stripped of the ability to use Arizona’s water resources when the State Land Department inspected the company’s land leases in western Arizona’s Butler Valley and determined they were no longer irrigating in the area. The company allegedly pumped over 5.3 billion gallons of groundwater in Butler Valley throughout 2022, stopping after Gov. Hobbs canceled their leases on its thousands of acres of land in October according to The Center Square.
Mayes said in a statement at the time, “The Arizona Attorney General’s Office worked closely with Governor Hobbs’ administration on these inspections, which confirmed what we have suspected — Fondomonte has been in violation of its leases for many years.”
However, she was critical of the delayed reaction. “And while today’s announcement is commendable, it should have been taken by state government much earlier. The failure to act sooner underscores the need for greater oversight and accountability in the management of our state’s most vital resource.”
As reported by AZ Free News in July, Chad Guzmán, who co-manages the lobbying firm Fillmore Strategy with Hobbs’ senior campaign advisor, Joe Wolf, is now working as a lobbyist for Fondomonte. The move came after Fondomente enlisted Guzmán’s company, Signal Peak Consulting, according to a Fondomonte spokesman. Wolf referred to the development as a “nothingburger” at the time, telling the Arizona Republic the he is no longer paid by the Hobbs campaign and has no business dealings with Fondomonte.
Speculation is rife that Mayes could seek to challenge Hobbs in the 2026 Democrat Primary for the Governor’s office, though the Arizona Capitol Times reported in November that Mayes said she is looking at running for a second term as AG in 2026. Stacey Barchenger, state politics reporter at the Arizona Republic, confirmed to KJZZ’s Laren Gilger a day later that she had reached out to Mayes who indicated she intends to seek re-election as Attorney General. Despite these assurances, the outlet noted that the groundwater controversy has proven to be a high-profile dispute between the two Democrats.
With Hobbs’ favorability ratings critically low, the divide on groundwater, an issue that often garners bipartisan support for regulation, could prove to be a wedge issue in 2026 that places Mayes in a position to challenge Hobbs on equal footing, despite the Governor’s hefty $3 million war chest.
With the major election season behind us, voters are undoubtedly recovering from the fatigue of non-stop political ads flooding their TVs and social media apps, but potential candidates are already setting their sights on 2026, which—while not the presidential Superbowl—will have hugely impactful consequences for Arizona. Fresh off a nationwide red wave, Republicans in Arizona are hoping to capitalize on this momentum by taking back important statewide offices won by Democrats in 2022. Fortunately for Republicans, Arizonans, and the rule of law, we have an excellent candidate who could be the next Arizona Attorney General. In many ways, he already is.
Both of us have worked with or closely observed every Attorney General since Bob Corbin in 1979. Sadly, we’ve never seen an Attorney General whose decisions about the use of power are more partisan than Attorney General Kris Mayes. Lawlessness, wokeness, and injustice have become recurring themes under her leadership. In response, Arizona Senate President Warren Petersen has taken her on, thwarting and mitigating her run-a-way train of progressivism.
Thanks to a law passed by a prior legislature, the Senate President may intervene in cases where the Attorney General refuses to defend the law. Over the past two years, this tool has proven to be invaluable, and Warren Petersen has deployed it, both smartly and aggressively.
When Attorney General Mayes bowed to the radical left and refused to defend Arizona’s law ensuring biological boys and men could not compete on female-only sports teams, President Petersen got involved to protect our girls and women, serving as the last line of defense for the Save Women’s Sports Act. When Mayes gave bogus legal advice to provide cover for the lawlessness of Katie Hobbs and her violations of the separation of powers, Petersen checked Mayes in court and made sure Arizona laws were followed, stopping a Mayes-approved illegal scheme, where Governor Hobbs avoided confirmation of agency directors.
When Mayes tried to hijack the state budget and assert control of $115 million in state opioid settlement funds, Petersen fought back, won, and was awarded over $40,000 in attorneys’ fees against Mayes. Perhaps nothing more clearly demonstrates that Petersen is already fulfilling the role of moral leader of the Attorney General’s Office than his call to Mayes to end her illegal delay in following court ordered executions. Within a week of Petersen’s public statements, Mayes reversed course.
President Petersen has not only filled the void in state court litigation, but he’s also picked up the slack to fight the Biden administration’s big government overreach in federal court, while Mayes has remained silent. Petersen led the legal fight on national issues of importance to Arizona. From Covid vaccine mandates to forced-electric vehicle mandates, infringement of second-amendment rights, homeless encampments, immigration enforcement, and business-crushing federal regulations, Petersen has intervened in a variety of issues important to the lives and livelihoods of our citizens. Meanwhile, Mayes has been AWOL, seemingly driven by a leftist ideology instead of objective law enforcement.
And now comes the astounding revelation that a “far-left” group, the States United Democracy Center, gave Mayes a forty-seven-page memo which served as her “plan” to prosecute the 2020 alternate electors. If true, it represents an unprecedented abdication of the independence we need from our Attorney General.
We do not need four more years of highly partisan bias and selective application of the law for Arizonans to appreciate the value of having a true advocate in the Attorney General’s Office. And while there are two more years to go under Mayes, we should be thankful that we have two more years of Arizona Senate President Warren Petersen there to continue his protection of our state constitution and laws.
We’ve worked with President Petersen on legal issues for over a decade. Whether as Judiciary Chairman, or now as Senate President; time and time again, he has demonstrated the ability, courage, and leadership to put Arizona first and fight for its interests, whether at the legislature, or in the courts. In many ways, for the last two years, Petersen has been the moral voice for justice in our legal affairs. Now is the right time for him to run to become the actual Attorney General.
Steve Twist is a lawyer in Scottsdale. Seth Leibsohn is a radio host in Phoenix and Senior Fellow with the Claremont Institute.
The Maricopa Superior Court dismissed a challenge to a school district’s dual language program, citing lack of standing.
The plaintiff, Patricia Pellett, is a Scottsdale Unified School District parent, and not part of the district she challenged, Creighton Elementary School District (CESD). Arizona Department of Education (ADE) Superintendent Tom Horne’s wife, Carmen Chenal Horne, represented Pellett in the case.
Back in August, Horne said that it was irrelevant that Pellett didn’t have a child in CESD schools.
“Under a provision in the initiative that said that a student of any parent in the state could bring an action against any school district in the state that violates this initiative,” said Horne.
The challenge to CESD arose from Horne’s crusade against dual language programs. Horne’s aim is to have all schools teach only through immersion programs. Dual language models teach students subjects in languages other than English for part of their education, whereas immersion has students taught their subject matter entirely in English.
State law enacted through a voter initiative (Proposition 203 passed in 2000) requires that public schools teach the English language through English-spoken courses and English language classrooms, unless parents are eligible to provide prior written informed consent for bilingual education techniques or those educational methodologies permitted by law.
“[A]ll children in Arizona public schools shall be taught English by being taught in English and all children shall be placed in English language classrooms,” states the law.
Eligible circumstances include parents with children who already know English, older children, and children with special needs.
The Arizona State Board of Education has determined that parental waivers for immersion aren’t required, a finding affirmed by Attorney General Kris Mayes last year. Mayes published that opinion in response to a request on legal clarity from state representatives as to whether the language models used by seven school districts — Glendale Elementary, Kyrene Elementary, Phoenix Elementary, Mesa Public Schools, Laveen Elementary, Creighton Elementary, and Mexicayotl Academy — warranted corrective action by ADE.
Horne dismissed Mayes’ opinion as “ideologically driven” and not based in law.
Horne turned to Pellett to challenge schools’ dual language programs after Maricopa County Superior Court ordered Horne to pay over $120,000 in legal fees earlier this year.
The judge, Katherine Cooper, ruled that state law didn’t authorize Horne to ask the courts to rule on school district compliance with Proposition 203. Cooper ruled that only the State Board of Education possessed authority over dual language programs, citing the board’s responsibility for developing and approving immersion models. Cooper further declared that Horne had no justiciable claim, either, and ruled that parents and guardians had the power to file lawsuits to enforce the proposition.
“The school districts, like all public and charter schools, are required to follow a model as approved by the State Board,” ruled Cooper.
Horne’s response was to accuse the ruling as avoidant of the merits of the case. He reiterated that the voter-approved initiative (Proposition 203) required children to be taught in English.
With Horne’s continued challenges to the existence of dual language programs and advocacy for immersion programs, the Arizona School Boards Association says it will advocate for greater reliance on 50-50 models.
I agree! That's why I learned other languages, but I learned English first since that is the language needed to join our society and our economy. We need to follow the law, and if parents want to sign a waiver for dual language, they can. I support parents knowing what is best! https://t.co/7g9znMlai0
A southern Arizona elections official is facing a potential investigation over her jurisdiction’s execution of the recent November General Election.
On Monday, state Representatives Teresa Martinez and Rachel Jones sent a request to Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes, asking her office to conduct an investigation “into the Pima County Recorder Gabriella Cazares-Kelly’s handling of the 2024 General Election.”
🚨State Representatives Teresa Martinez & Rachel Jones Request Attorney General Investigation Into Pima County Election Administration
“Election integrity is the foundation of our democracy, and voters deserve to know their elections are being administered fairly, lawfully, and… pic.twitter.com/BJFmLiloSK
The Republican lawmakers raised a number of issues stemming from the election in Pima County, including “shutting down of early ballot request portal, inmate voter registration program, [and] handling of undeliverable and returned ballots.”
“Election integrity is the foundation of our democracy, and voters deserve to know their elections are being administered fairly, lawfully, and transparently,” said Representative Martinez. “The numerous irregularities and lack of accountability from the Pima County Recorder’s Office demand a full investigation.”
“When nearly 4,000 voters face barriers to requesting a ballot, and when questions about unlawful voting and ballot processing are met with silence, it’s clear that immediate action is needed to restore public trust,” added Representative Jones.
In their letter to Mayes, the two legislators wrote, “Arizonans deserve free, fair, and transparent elections. In light of your recent decision to immediately investigate President-Elect Donald Trump over his speech (although you later determined his remarks were protected by the First Amendment), we hope you will agree that Recorder Cázares-Kelly’s alarming conduct administering the 2024 General Election warrants a thorough investigation.”
The Pima County Recorder appears to be a proud Democrat activist alongside her nonpartisan position as an election official. During this just-completed elections cycle, Cázares-Kelly posted a picture with Jane Fonda, and boasted about shaking former President Barack Obama’s hand at a political event.
Love this photo of me & goddess @Janefonda during her recent visit to Tucson w/ @janeclimatepac. She was making a joke out of the side of her mouth as I laughed in delight. She talked about her decades of enviro activism, even recalling getting arrested alongside @standwithraul! pic.twitter.com/MDWvOAplJC
Cázares-Kelly also shared a video of Mayes dancing at a political rally in October.
Lol. Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes twirling away to @tigresdelnorte is exactly what I needed to see on my timeline as I inhaled my lunch finally.
