Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes, was born and raised in Prescott Arizona. She attended Arizona State University where she graduated as a valedictorian with a degree in political science. After graduating, Mayes worked as a reporter for The Arizona Republic, covering the Arizona Legislature. Mayes won the Harry S. Truman Scholarship and went on to earn a Master of Public Administration from Columbia University in New York.
After graduating from Columbia, Mayes returned to Arizona and covered the 2000 presidential campaign. She went on to co-author a book entitled “Spin Priests: Campaign Advisors and the 2000 Race for the White House.” After the presidential campaign, Mayes attended ASU College of Law and graduated magna cum laude.
In 2002, Mayes served as the press secretary for Janet Napolitano during her race to become governor. In 2003, Gov. Napolitano appointed Mayes, then a Republican, to the Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC). Mayes won election to the ACC and served there until 2010.
Following her tenure at the ACC, Mayes focused on academic and public policy work at ASU. Mayes worked as a senior sustainability scientist and taught a course on energy law. In 2019, Mayes left the Republican Party citing the expansion of Trumpism within the Party. In 2021, Mayes announced her candidacy for Arizona Attorney General.
In her role as Attorney General, Mayes has been a strong advocate for consumer rights, environmental rights, voting rights, reproductive rights, and many other everyday issues that affect Arizonians. Since Trump took office, Attorney General Mayes has led or supported many lawsuits against the Trump Administration including:
- Birthright Citizenship, filed 1/21
- Withholding Federal Funding, filed 1/27
- Keep Information from DOGE, filed 2/2
- Defunding Medial and Public Health Research, filed 2/10
- Deregulation of Executive Power to Elon Musk, filed 2/13
- Federal Firings, filed 3/6
- Dismantling the Department of Education, filed 3/13
- Public Funding Cuts, filed 4/1
Voting Restrictions, filed 4/3 - Protecting Libraries and Museums, filed 4/4;
- National Institute of Health Funding, filed 4/4;
- Restoring Department of Education Programs, filed 4/10
- Tariffs, filed 4/23
- AmeriCorps Demolition, filed 4/29
- Wind Energy, filed 4/5
- Dismantling of the Department of Health and Human Services, filed 5/5
- Federal Electric Vehicle Funding, filed 5/7
- Blocking National Energy Emergency, filed 5/9
The people of Arizona are extremely fortunate to have a strong advocate working for us and her name is Kris Mayes.
