Note: A direct response to this article has been published at https://azcapitoltimes.com/news/2026/05/04/petersen-is-the-most-qualified-republican-for-attorney-general/

A.R.S. § 41-191 clearly states that Arizona’s attorney general “shall have been for not less than five years immediately preceding the date of taking office a practicing attorney before the supreme court of the state.” That requirement is mandatory, time bound and tied directly to the office.

The attorney general is the largest law office in the state, overseeing hundreds of attorneys, directing complex litigation, and making legal decisions that affect millions of Arizonans. The Legislature’s five year practice requirement is common sense: the state’s top lawyer should have meaningful experience practicing law.

Based on the State Bar of Arizona’s official records, Warren Petersen was admitted to practice law on December 21, 2023. By January 2027 when the next attorney general will be sworn in, he will still be well short of the five years the statute requires.

Despite holding a license to practice law, there is no readily available evidence that Petersen has actually practiced law or worked as an attorney. In fact his official Arizona Senate biography listed his occupation not as a lawyer, but as “real estate,” up until the first session of 2025 — reinforcing that law is not his profession. That matters. 

The attorney general is not an entry-level legal position. It is the state’s top legal job, requiring real-world experience handling cases, making legal judgments, and managing attorneys who do this work every day on matters that will impact people’s lives. A law license without practice is not preparation for that responsibility even if he had met the five year qualification. Petersen may be a licensed attorney, but he does not meet the statutory qualification and he certainly does not have the experience that the office demands. Put simply, Petersen is not qualified to serve as Arizona’s attorney general.

Petersen’s supporters may point to a court case called State ex rel. Sawyer v. LaSota, arguing that the Legislature cannot add extra qualifications for attorney general beyond what the Arizona Constitution lists. That idea is partly true, but it doesn’t really apply here. In that case, the person elected attorney general wasn’t a lawyer at all and had never been admitted to the bar. Enforcing the law would have permanently blocked (Jack) LaSota from ever holding the office, which is why the court rejected it. That’s not the situation here. Petersen isn’t being barred from serving forever, he just doesn’t have the required experience at this time. 

More troubling is that Petersen is not just any candidate. He is the president of the Arizona Senate and has spent 14 years in the Legislature, the very body that enacted and has left this law in place. If he believed the five-year requirement was bad policy, he had ample opportunity to repeal it. He did not. Instead, he now expects voters to ignore it when it applies to him.

That “rules for thee but not for me” mindset is dangerous in any office, but especially for the attorney general. The role demands public trust and a commitment to enforcing the law consistently and without exception. The attorney general cannot pick and choose when the law applies based on personal convenience. If a candidate treats the law as optional before taking office, there is little reason to believe he will treat it as binding once entrusted to enforce it.

Republicans need to confront the political reality here and choose wisely in the primary. If Republican voters nominate Petersen, they are handing Democrats a built in advantage. Kris Mayes will almost certainly challenge his eligibility, forcing immediate litigation that will dominate the race. If the challenge succeeds, the seat is lost before the general election begins. If it fails, Republicans are still left defending a nominee without the legal or managerial experience to credibly run the state’s largest law office.

Adam Trenk is an Arizona attorney, entrepreneur and former vice mayor of Cave Creek.