A Maricopa County Superior Court judge dismissed a complaint alleging a Republican legislative candidate isn’t eligible for office because he hasn’t lived in Arizona uninterrupted long enough to meet state residency requirements for public office.

With the dismissal, Michael Way of Queen Creek will be eligible to hold a seat in the House of Representatives if he wins in the November general election in the Republican stronghold of Legislative District 15. 

The complaint alleged Way isn’t eligible for office because he recently lived and voted in North Carolina in 2021 and 2022. Arizona law requires legislative candidates to have lived in the state for three years before they’re elected. 

Way has admitted to living and voting in North Carolina, but said it was for a temporary work assignment and he’s considered Arizona his permanent home since 2009, comparing his situation to college students attending schools out-of-state.

Judge Rodrick Coffey, an appointee of former Republican Gov. Jan Brewer, dismissed the complaint Friday and wrote in this ruling that the court is prevented by law from weighing in on the issue. 

LD15 Republican precinct committeewoman Deborah Kirkland filed the complaint against Way 126 days after the deadline to challenge a legislative candidate’s qualifications to be nominated for office. She instead challenged his candidacy on a different law that allows an individual to contest the election of a candidate due to the candidate not being eligible for office at the time of the election. 

But the legislature passed a law in 1991 that effectively eliminated post primary election challenges in order to reduce judicial challenges between a primary and general election. The law excludes the ability to challenge elections for “procedures relating to contests of elections of members of the legislature.” 

“The duties of judging elections of members of the State Legislature and determining the qualifications of those who are elected to be legislators are expressly delegated to the Arizona Legislature,” Coffey wrote in his ruling. “If Way is elected, it will be up to the Arizona Legislature to judge his qualifications.”

Way is a heavy favorite to be elected in his district, which the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission gives a 27% advantage in vote spread to Republican candidates. The district covers Queen Creek, San Tan Valley and southeast Mesa. 

Democrat Barbara Beneitone is running against Way and incumbent Rep. Neal Carter, R-San Tan Valley. Kirkland’s complaint asked for Way to remain on the ballot while an appointment decided by Republican precinct committeeman in the district and the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors would fill in for him if he’s elected, similar to the process for a legislative appointment.

The proposed remedy would have avoided other Republican candidates running as write-in candidates against Beneitone, but Coffey wrote in his ruling that judges can’t issue opinions that are not ripe for decision.

“Way has not received the most or second most number of votes because the election has not yet occurred; he may not receive the most or second most number of votes; and the Court cannot predict with any certainty whether he will,” Coffey wrote. “Asking the Court to declare what should happen if Way receives the most or second most number of votes is asking the Court for an advisory opinion.”

Ballots had already been printed at the time of the hearing so if Way was determined to be ineligible, Beneitone could have been an unlikely winner in the district due to votes not being counted for Way. 

Way’s attorney Andrew Gould said Monday the complaint against Way was not strategic for Republicans seeking to hold their slim majorities in the House and Senate. 

“This is going to be a very tight election for the legislature, and this type of baseless attack at the 11th hour that really is barred by the law is troubling,” Gould said. “For Republicans, it jeopardizes their majorities in the legislature.”

The Republican Party of Arizona celebrated the dismissal and said in a written statement that the decision rebuffs “baseless attacks from Democrats and their allies,” despite Kirkland being a Republican precinct committeewoman.

Kirkland said during the evidentiary hearing that she supported Way’s opponent Peter Anello during the primary election. Anello ran on the same slate as Carter and Sen. Jake Hoffman, R-Queen Creek. 

Hoffman is the chairman of the Arizona Freedom Caucus. Way testified that he believes the complaint against him is “politically motivated” and referenced a Freedom Caucus leader in the North Carolina House of Representatives calling for an investigation about Way’s voting record after The Arizona Republic published an article about his residency. 

Gould asked Kirkland if she knew who was financing her lawsuit. She said in court that she didn’t know. Gould said Monday that he didn’t know who was financially behind the lawsuit either but thought it was unusual for the plaintiff of the complaint to not know. 

“Sometimes in these cases there are third parties that fund because they have some political agenda. I don’t know that to be the case here but I was curious if that’s what was going on,” Gould said. “Not everyone has the money to pay for a lawsuit like this.”