The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors gained a new ally in their ongoing court battle against Maricopa County Recorder Justin Heap over elections authority.
The board received a supporting brief from a former longtime Maricopa County recorder, Helen Purcell.
Purcell, a Republican, filed the 57-page brief with the help of the States United Democracy Center (SUDC) — the same organization that colluded with Attorney General Kris Mayes to prosecute 2020 allies of President Donald Trump.
Purcell’s brief said that the board wasn’t mandated by statute to delegate election administration duties to the recorder but instead retained the power of discretionary judgment to award that authority based on whether the recorder was “cooperative and experienced,” and proving to “serv[e] the interests of the county and its voters.”
Further on, Purcell made the case that the court should “preserve the status quo” by keeping elections authority with the board, due to the nearness of the primary election set to take place next month. She referenced a Supreme Court case involving her, Purcell v. Gonzalez, and the resulting “Purcell Principle”: that courts shouldn’t modify election rules too close to an election.
Purcell also claimed that state law designating elections authority was ambiguous, and that the trial court that ruled in Heap’s favor had established “a blanket hierarchy” not imposed by the law.
“[That ruling declared that] the recorder controls every function where the office is named, and the ‘other officer’ serves only at the recorder’s discretion,” stated Purcell. “That construction disregards the historical and operational context against which these statutes were enacted, and […] would produce results the legislature could not have intended, stripping away the flexibility the legislature built into the statutory scheme.”
Instead, Purcell said the recorder and board each maintained direct authority over certain functions, and shared some. Recorder functions included voter registration and early ballot signature verification, and board functions included Election Day operations, ballot tabulation, and jurisdictional elections, said Purcell, and the two shared functions like chain of custody documentation.
Although Purcell departed from the recorder’s office nearly 10 years ago, she is no stranger to reentering the muddy waters of election-related disputes. Purcell served as county recorder from 1988 to 2017.
Purcell filed a joint brief in support of maintaining a ranked choice voting ballot initiative in 2024 with former state lawmaker Ken Bennett. Another former recorder for Maricopa County, Stephen Richer, also filed a brief in support of the initiative.
Ranked choice voting would require voters to rank every candidate on their ballot. Only the candidate to earn 50% of the vote would be declared the winner. Otherwise, voters would have to enter additional rounds of voting until a candidate breaks 50%.
Gov. Katie Hobbs appointed Purcell as co-chair of an elections task force her first year in office, and Secretary of State Adrian Fontes praised Purcell for the ensuing report. Hobbs ultimately allocated over $2 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds for elections-related initiatives proposed by the task force for the 2024 election. ARPA funds were initially meant for economic stimulus efforts pertaining to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Republican lawmakers criticized the task force at the time for its “secretive” conduct, and alleged that the task force was Hobbs’ way of circumventing statutory requirements to modify election law and procedures.
The task force was also rumored to be influenced by SUDC.
Correction: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that Purcell and Bennett filed a joint brief in support of ranked choice voting. That statement has been corrected.
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Attorney General Kris Mayes sustained a fatal blow in her case against the 2020 alternate electors for President Donald Trump.
Mayes doesn’t plan on giving up, though.
The Arizona Supreme Court denied Mayes’ appeal of lower court rulings in State v. Ward this week. This means that Mayes must start over to continue prosecution of the alternate electors.
Mayes’ spokesman Richie Taylor confirmed the attorney general plans to return to the grand jury to seek another indictment; he would not provide further comment.
Republican Rep. Abe Hamadeh (AZ-08) said Mayes’ persistence to prosecute despite the rejection of multiple courts proved her to be “completely unhinged” and in need of sanctioning.
“She’s wasting Arizona taxpayers’ money on her obsessive, Ahab-like pursuit of patriotic Arizonans who served as alternate electors after the stolen 2020 election,” said Hamadeh. “Her first sham indictment was already laughed out of every court in the state.”
She’s wasting Arizona taxpayers’ money on her obsessive, Ahab-like pursuit of patriotic Arizonans who served as alternate electors after the stolen 2020 election.
Her first sham indictment was already laughed out of every court in…
— Office of Congressman Abe Hamadeh (@RepAbeHamadeh) June 4, 2026
Senate President Warren Petersen (R-LD14) — who is running to unseat Mayes this November — said Mayes was the poster child of a “rogue” attorney general.
“This is what a rogue AG looks like,” said Petersen. “Loses at every level and still not tired of losing.”
This is what a rogue AG looks like. Loses at every level and still not tired of losing. https://t.co/UKhjcfDPZx
Mayes has sustained a series of losses in her attempt to prosecute the Trump electors, each court ruling increasingly diminishing the life of her case until it reached the point where it lies now — effectively on life support as it awaits another grand jury indictment that may not come.
Last September, the Arizona Court of Appeals rejected Mayes’ appeal of a ruling issued last May by the Maricopa County Superior Court. The latter court remanded Mayes’ case back to a grand jury, ruling that she violated the due process of the alternate electors by failing to give the grand jury a document critical to the indictment, the Electoral Count Act (ECA) of 1887.
The ECA is a federal law outlining the legal process for casting and counting electoral votes in presidential elections. It was modified recently in 2022 under the Biden administration through the Electoral Count Reform Act of 2022 (ECRA).
The ERCA, in part, limited the vice president’s involvement in electoral certification to a ministerial role, raised the congressional threshold for elector objections to one-fifth of Congress, and made state governors the authority for submitting the certificate of electors.
Key to the defense of the electors was the argument that they acted in good faith in accordance with the ECA.
Mayes has also been accused of receiving payment to prosecute the alternate electors, according to a whistleblower complaint filed last November.
That complaint alleged that States United Democracy Center (SUDC) paid around $200,000 to have prosecutorial influence over the alternate electors case. It was SUDC who advised Mayes’ office in a summer 2023 letter to prosecute Trump’s top supporters from the contentious 2020 election and its aftermath. Mayes’ office has denied the impact of the SUDC letter on their decision to prosecute the alternate electors.
Hamadeh asked the Department of Justice to investigate this alleged “pay-to-play” scheme.
That DOJ investigation is ongoing.
In April, a court of appeals judge ruled in another case that Mayes illegally withheld communications between her office and SUDC.
Trump has pardoned these alternate electors and supporters of the federal charges against them, but state charges like Mayes’ remain.
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Arizona Senate President and AG candidate Warren Petersen says that Democrat Attorney General Kris Mayes is overseeing a “culture of corruption,” pointing to a federal probe request and the arrest of a top aide as signs of a deepening crisis inside the Attorney General’s Office.
In a statement emailed by his campaign, Petersen said a “pattern of misconduct, corruption, and political weaponization” had taken root under Mayes and now represents “a betrayal of public trust” for Arizona families, law enforcement, and state institutions.
Petersen highlighted two recent developments: a formal request from U.S. Rep. Abe Hamadeh for a federal investigation into alleged bribery and prosecutorial misconduct and the arrest of Mayes’ state government division chief, Vanessa Hickman, on felony charges linked to stolen property.
Hamadeh Seeks Federal Probe Into Alleged ‘Pay-to-Play’ Scheme
Petersen’s statement leans heavily on a recent move by Congressman Abe Hamadeh (R-AZ08), who has asked the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate what he calls a “coordinated bribery and prosecutorial misconduct scheme” involving Mayes, the Democratic Attorneys General Association (DAGA), and the States United Democracy Center (SUDC).
In a detailed letter, Hamadeh pointed to court filings in the ongoing alternate electors prosecution and alleged that DAGA sent a total of $200,000 to Mayes’ political operation during key points in the case:
$50,000 shortly after Mayes retained SUDC in May 2023
$150,000 shortly after indictments were announced in April 2024
Hamadeh argued that the timing raises “significant concerns about quid pro quo arrangements,” and criticized what he described as an “unprecedented attorney-client relationship” between the Attorney General’s Office and SUDC, a politically aligned nonprofit tied to national Democratic legal networks.
This Week From The Office of Congressman Hamadeh
• Keeping My Commitment • ICYMI – Rep. Hamadeh Calls for Bondi Probe of 'Rogue' Dem AGs
— Office of Congressman Abe Hamadeh (@RepAbeHamadeh) November 21, 2025
“Many of the individuals involved in this scheme have engaged in highly questionable activity, and as I wrote in my letter to Attorney General Bondi, their rogue and unethical conduct is not isolated to Arizona,” Hamadeh said.
“As a former prosecutor, it is unimaginable to me that these officers of the court allegedly conspired to deny citizens their fundamental constitutional rights. Yet, it appears that is exactly what happened.”
The Department of Justice has not publicly indicated whether it will open a formal investigation, and Mayes’ office has not yet issued a direct response to Hamadeh’s allegations, according to recent coverage.
Mayes Division Chief Arrested on Felony Charges
The second case cited by Petersen is the arrest of Vanessa Hickman, who served as state government division chief under Mayes. Hickman was arrested last week by U.S. Postal Inspection Service agents and faces two felony counts of “controlling and trafficking stolen property” tied to a misdelivered package containing roughly $40,000 in jewelry, according to Phoenix New Times.
In a statement to the outlet, Mayes’s spokesman, Richie Taylor, said, “The allegations against Ms. Hickman are serious for any state employee, particularly someone in a leadership position.”
Hickman was placed on administrative leave after federal authorities notified the Attorney General’s Office of the investigation, and later resigned. However, she was still listed on the agency’s website as of this week, the Times reported.
Hickman is no longer employed with the Attorney General's Office, according to spokesperson Richie Taylor. https://t.co/43y2b0Z97K via @azcentral
Petersen argued that Hickman’s brush with the law was preceded by “serious allegations against Hickman—including fraud, conversion, and breach of fiduciary duty.”
“Mayes’ office had been warned by the city of Peoria nearly two years earlier about serious allegations against Hickman—including fraud, conversion, and breach of fiduciary duty—yet Mayes kept her in a position of authority,” the statement said.
Before joining Mayes’ team in January 2023, Hickman served as Peoria’s city attorney. The City of Peoria later sued Hickman over a six-figure severance, accusing her of unjust enrichment linked to a $139,000 payout the city says she wasn’t entitled to, according to the Arizona Republic.
According to an Arizona Daily Independent report, Peoria Mayor Jason Beck sent a letter to Mayes in March warning about those allegations and urging the Attorney General to investigate. Mayes declined the request and dismissed it as a “political stunt.”
“These incidents are not accidents,” Petersen said of both the Hamadeh complaint and Hickman’s arrest. “They are the direct result of failed leadership and a culture of corruption that Kris Mayes has allowed to take root in the Attorney General’s Office.”
Hickman has previously pushed back on Peoria’s claims. She filed a defamation countersuit against city officials over their communications with Mayes’ office, which was dismissed by a Maricopa County Superior Court judge on Jan. 7, according to court records and local reporting per AZCentral.
The current criminal case against Hickman has been submitted to the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office for a charging decision. However, county prosecutors said they had not yet received it as of last week, according to Phoenix New Times.
“I will restore honesty, transparency, and integrity,” Petersen said in his release. “I will rebuild trust with law enforcement and put the full weight of the Attorney General’s Office back where it belongs—behind the safety, security, and rights of Arizona families. This race is about defending every neighborhood, rural community, border town, and law-abiding Arizonan.”
On his campaign site, Petersen frames his bid as an effort to “restore trust to Arizona’s Attorney General Office” and to enforce the law “as written—not based on politics or personal opinion,” emphasizing backing for law enforcement, crime-victim rights, and protecting Arizona’s sovereignty against “unconstitutional mandates, burdensome regulations, and attacks on our rights.”
U.S. Congressman Abe Hamadeh (AZ-08) urged Attorney General Pam Bondi to launch a federal investigation into allegations of bribery and prosecutorial misconduct tied to the Democrat Attorneys General Association (DAGA), the States United Democracy Center (SUDC), and multiple state attorneys general offices.
The congressman, a former prosecutor, highlighted the direct impact on his Arizona constituents—grandmothers, business leaders, veterans, seniors, and activists—who he says have been targeted for exercising their First Amendment rights in what appears to be politically motivated prosecutions.
Court filings in State of Arizona v. Kelli Ward et al. uncovered an apparent coordinated scheme where partisan nonprofits allegedly funneled payments to influence criminal cases.
Key allegations outlined in Hamadeh’s letter to AG Bondi include:
Suspicious Financial Timing: Arizona AG Kris Mayes received $200,000 from DAGA. She received $50,000 after hiring SUDC in May 2023, and $150,000 right after announcing indictments in April 2024, raising red flags of potential quid pro quo.
Unprecedented Control by Partisan Group: The Arizona AG’s office claims an attorney-client relationship with SUDC, effectively ceding prosecutorial authority to a politically aligned nonprofit, undermining independence and due process.
Opaque Organizational Ties: Tax records indicate that SUDC shares leadership, addresses, and bank accounts with the Progressive State Leadership Committee, a structure seemingly designed to mask money flow and coordination.
Hamadeh also pointed to SUDC co-founder Marc Elias’s prior sanctions by the Fifth Circuit for “redundant and misleading” conduct and lack of candor, including filing undisclosed duplicate motions, requiring him to complete court-ordered ethics training.
“My constituents, including veterans and seniors who make up a significant portion of AZ-08, deserve confidence that their taxpayer dollars ensure law enforcement decisions affecting their rights are made impartially, and are not going to partisan Democrat-affiliated organizations,” stated Congressman Hamadeh. “The apparently credible allegations rise to a level of seriousness that warrants an investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice.”
In his letter to AG Pam Bondi, Hamadeh demanded answers within 30 days on:
The status of any DOJ probe into DAGA-SUDC arrangements.
Similar financial ties in other states with politically charged cases.
Protections for defendants’ due process rights.
Review of tax filings, bank records, and communications.
Timeline for investigation and public findings.
“The allegations outlined above, if substantiated, represent a fundamental corruption of prosecutorial independence and the rule of law,” concluded Hamadeh. “My constituents and all Americans deserve to know that criminal prosecutions are conducted based on evidence and law, not influenced by financial payments from partisan political organizations.”
Ethan Faverino is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
A recent whistleblower filing alleges Attorney General Kris Mayes was paid to prosecute President Donald Trump’s supporters.
According to the whistleblower, Christina Bobb — one of the indicted former Trump lawyers and current senior elections counsel for the Republican National Committee — Mayes inadvertently disclosed in filings her receipt of $200,000 from a Democratic Party offshoot founded in the 2020 election cycle for the purpose of defeating Trump and his allies.
Christina Bobb just dropped a huge bombshell. The Arizona AG (the position that rightfully should have gone to @AbrahamHamadeh but that is another story) has been pursuing Trump supporters under the false electors hoax. It turns out the AG followed a prosecutorial blueprint given… https://t.co/vqWgRnbsUi
The funds came from States United Democracy Center (SUDC), which the complaint alleged was payment to grant the organization prosecutorial influence over Mayes’ case against Trump’s 2020 attorneys, allies, and electors. The payment came in two allotments: $50,000 and $150,000.
“Prosecutors claim on the record and in emails that States United represents their office,” stated the complaint.
SUDC delivered a document to Mayes in the summer of 2023 proposing the charges to be brought against Trump’s foremost 2020 supporters. Mayes’ chief deputy attorney general, Dan Barr, told Capitol Media Services last December that the SUDC document “did not have a significant, if much, impact at all” in their case against the Trump 2020 electors.
Consistent with Mayes’ ongoing resistance to disclose further details of their working relationship with SUDC as related to the prosecution of Trump supporters, Barr declined to “get into the inner workings” of their relationship with SUDC.
Two key participants within SUDC involvement in Mayes’ prosecution have a history of high-profile actions taken to undermine Trump.
SUDC founder Norm Eisen was co-counsel for the House Judiciary Committee during the first impeachment of Trump in 2020.
The attorney on SUDC filings, Marc Elias, was counsel for former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s campaign. Elias also coordinated the Steele dossier that would serve as the basis for the falsified allegations of Russia interference in the 2016 election. In recent years, Elias has been the left-leaning legal bully stick ensuring the success of Democrat-led election reforms and demise of Republican-led election reforms.
The whistleblower complaint also questioned whether Mayes would receive a third payment upon a successful conviction.
Bobbs’ complaint was filed alongside a motion to disqualify Mayes and SUDC from continuing prosecution.
The motion came shortly after a Maricopa County Superior Court remanded Mayes’ case back to the grand jury for violating due process.
In September, several months after this motion was filed, Mayes lost her bid to continue prosecution with the court of appeals.
Mayes not only has these recent court outcomes stacked against her case — she has federal pressures as well.
Last Friday, President Donald Trump pardoned his key 2020 supporters through a proclamation — including those whom Mayes seeks to prosecute.
“This proclamation ends a grave national injustice perpetrated upon the American people following the 2020 Presidential Election and continues the process of national reconciliation,” stated Trump.
Pinal County Attorney Brad Miller responded to the pardons with the prediction that Mayes would drop the case, saying she had “no choice” in a Tuesday interview with The Gateway Pundit.
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