Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell will face the same challenger in the Republican primary this year as she did in the 2022 special election Gina Godbehere.
Godbehere announced her campaign last week. The Maricopa County Supervisors chose Mitchell in early 2022 to replace the previous county attorney, Alistar Adel, who resigned from office due to health issues. Adel passed away in 2022. Mitchell has accumulated considerable criticism from Republicans for actions such as representing the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors (MCBOS) twice, asking for sanctions against Kari Lake’s election attorneys.
“Our path forward demands a brave leader who will confront rising crime, restore trust in cherished institutions, and ensure justice and accountability for all,” Godbehere (pictured above) said in her announcement, “areas where the current administration has notably failed.” She said in the next two months, she will outline the failures of the current administration “and the dangerous implications of maintaining the status quo.”
🚨 I am proud to announce my Candidacy for Maricopa County Attorney. I would be honored to have your support. Please follow me @ginaforjustice and sign my petition today. https://t.co/3wUmXdhSgL pic.twitter.com/xkd9n38VKT
— Gina Godbehere Thomas (@GinaGodbehere) February 8, 2024
Bryan Blehm, who is representing Lake in her lawsuit challenging election wrongdoing in her gubernatorial race, told The Arizona Sun Times, “Maricopa County is long overdue for effective leadership in the county attorney’s office. That office needs significant change starting with the lifetime tenure attorneys.”
Godbehere spent over 25 years as a Maricopa County Attorney’s Office prosecutor, then moved on to serve as the City Attorney for Goodyear. She has gone to trial on every type of felony case, including first-degree premeditated murder. She helped develop the first juvenile drug court and implemented the juvenile transfer offender program. She is the co-author and creator of the Ultimate Trial Research Notebook used by prosecution agencies throughout Arizona.
She co-founded Speak Up, Stand Up, Save a Life (SUSUSL) in 2018. After encountering a scene at a high school where two teenage girls were killed in a murder-suicide, she started the organization to “spread awareness that when someone’s life is in danger, speaking up and telling a trusted adult is the right thing to do and it may just save a life.” SUSUSL puts on annual conferences, which have grown to almost 5,000 attendees and reaches over 400,000 students throughout Arizona.
Godbehere told EZAZ in 2022 that if she becomes the county attorney, she intends to form “an Election Integrity Task Force that will work to ensure all of our laws are enforced.”
“Let me be clear, if there is evidence our election laws were broken, the offender will be prosecuted,” she said.
Godbehere has been vocal in speaking up against the Biden administration’s attempts to investigate local law enforcement, particularly the Phoenix Police Department. She reposted the Phoenix Law Enforcement Association’s criticism of an article praising the encroachment.
“The recent article titled ‘Phoenix really needs federal monitoring of police’ is both dangerous and deceitful,” she said.
After Lake and Mark Finchem sued the state before the 2022 election to stop the use of electronic voting machine tabulators, Mitchell represented the MCBOS, demanding $139,950 in attorney fees. The Democrat-appointed judge awarded almost all of it against their attorneys, Alan Dershowitz, Kurt Olsen, and Andrew Parker.
Mitchell represented MCBOS asking for sanctions against Lake’s attorneys for challenging Lake’s loss in the gubernatorial election. Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Peter Thompson, who twice ruled against Lake after holding two brief trials of limited scope, issued a short ruling dismissing the sanctions.
If Mitchell had disagreed with the MCBOS, she could have recused herself and asked a county attorney from another county to represent them instead. Additionally, deputy county attorneys under Mitchell strenuously fought against political candidates for office, suing the county over the problems in the 2022 election.
When Mitchell was first being considered to replace Adel, she responded to a questionnaire provided to candidates by the MCBOS asserting that the MCBOS did not err in certifying the results of the 2020 presidential election.
The Maricopa County Republican Committee censured Mitchell in June for representing MCBOS, asking for sanctions, and calling for someone to challenge her in the primary.
Mitchell criticized former Maricopa County prosecutor April Sponsel after Sponsel was fired for prosecuting Antifa. Like the rest of the leadership in the office, she had no objections to Sponsel’s decision to charge Antifa, which was unanimously approved. Only after ABC15 extensively covered the rioting, attempting to portray the gang members as peaceful despite their violence, did Mitchell come out and criticize Sponsel.
In 2022, Godbehere received many endorsements from law enforcement officials. Her spokesperson at the time said the estimated total number of law enforcement officials whose membership groups had endorsed Godbehere was 40,000.
Jennifer Wright, who previously served as the civil attorney for the Arizona Attorney General’s Election Integrity Unit and who is now representing Lake and Abe Hamadeh in their election lawsuits, endorsed Godbehere immediately after Godbehere’s announcement.
“It’s no secret that I oppose the way @Rachel1Mitchell runs the @marcoattorney‘s Office,” Wright said. “So it should be no surprise that I’ve already signed @GinaGodbehere‘s nominating petition! Gina has my full support and endorsement.”
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Rachel Alexander is a reporter at The Arizona Sun Times and The Star News Network. Follow Rachel on Twitter / X. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Gina Godbehere” by Gina Godbehere for County Attorney.
