Tucked into a seven-page memo clearing Gov. Katie Hobbs of criminal wrongdoing in a bribery investigation was a politically potent precedent: Attorney General Kris Mayes' GOP predecessor also declined to pursue a case involving a governor from his own party.
It could be read as a tacit acknowledgement of the political stakes of Mayes' high-profile probe, which stretched on for more than two years. The findings landed in the middle of Mayes' and Hobbs' tough reelection campaigns.
Mayes' investigation cleared Hobbs of criminal wrongdoing involving a donor with a state contract but rekindled questions about Hobbs' 2022 campaign commitment to transparency. Mayes called on Hobbs and the Legislature to pass new transparency laws following a situation
that "raised serious questions."
With 73 days to go before the November election, the findings and Hobbs' ties to the donor will continue to reverberate politically for two of the state's top Democrats. Their Republican opponents quickly expanded their attention from Hobbs to include Mayes, who they alleged had "shrugged her shoulders" or let a fellow Democrat "off the hook."
Mayes' campaign rebuffed those claims.
How the case could impact Mayes' political odds
Arizona Senate President Warren Petersen, who has blasted Mayes for taking so long, accused her of letting Hobbs "off the hook." Petersen, in July, won the Republican nomination to challenge Mayes in November.
Petersen did not challenge Mayes' legal conclusions in detail, and his campaign did not answer a question about whether Petersen would have filed charges against Hobbs.
"After dragging her feet on the pay-to-play allegations against her Democratic pal, Kris Mayes announced her refusal to hold Governor Katie Hobbs accountable for her actions," Petersen said in a statement. "Mayes' decision was predictable in an election season. She shamefully shifted accountability and protected her political ally, turning a blind eye to Hobbs' misconduct."
Petersen's campaign manager, Chad LeBeau, said "in no other circumstance would Mayes close the investigation without obtaining testimony from the alleged perpetrator."
Petersen's campaign alleged Mayes also benefited from Sunshine Residential's donations made "during the course of the investigation."
LeBeau said the $300,000 the company gave to the Arizona Democratic Party supported the broader political operation for Democratic candidates, including Mayes. But Tommy McKone, a spokesperson for Sunshine Residential, said the funds given to the state party were only for Hobbs' benefit. All donations to the party were made before Mayes' investigation began.
Mayes' campaign defended her investigation, which she began despite a parallel probe led by Republican Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell. Mitchell's investigation is ongoing.
Mayes' campaign manager Delaney Corcoran noted that Mayes investigated and charged Democratic Apache County Attorney Michael Whiting in 2024, and cited reporting by The Arizona Mirror that found companies Mayes had prosecuted were supporting a political action committee backing Petersen's election.
"Kris Mayes follows the facts wherever they lead, even when it means investigating her own party," Corcoran said. "The last public official she indicted and removed from office was a Democrat who had served for nearly 20 years. Meanwhile, Warren Petersen has taken more than $1.4 million from corporate interests he could be responsible for holding accountable as Attorney General — including mobile home park operators nearly killing residents and for-profit prison companies."
That $1.4 million is the total raised by Restore Order Arizona PAC from individual donors and companies Mayes has sued, like BoaVida, which manages a mobile home park in Tucson the Attorney General's Office sued in August 2025.
Mayes' criminal investigators found there was no evidence to bring a bribery charge against Hobbs. Her deputies conducted an investigation that took hundreds of hours over the course of more than two years.
The inquiry started at the request of Republican Sen. TJ Shope after reporting by The Arizona Republic revealed Sunshine Residential's contributions to Hobbs' campaign and her affiliated groups came as it sought and received a special rate increase from the state Department of Child Safety.
Sunshine Residential provides group homes for children in the care of DCS. Hobbs has said, and Mayes' investigation corroborated, that she was not involved in the state agency's decision to boost Sunshine Residential's pay.
The short summary of the case released by Mayes' office on Aug. 21 noted her office's decision not to prosecute was not unprecedented.
The summary reveals that former Attorney General Mark Brnovich investigated then-Gov. Doug Ducey after The Republic in 2020 published stories that showed Ducey had received sizable campaign contributions from companies while his administration awarded their affiliates no-bid contracts.
"Finding that the contracts complied with procurement law, our office declined further investigation in 2021," Mayes' summary reads. "It would be difficult to distinguish between these cases based on the available evidence."
Brnovich left office in early 2023, after Mayes in November 2022 defeated her GOP opponent for the Attorney General's Office by just 280 votes.
Biggs continues scrutiny on Hobbs
Republican gubernatorial hopeful Andy Biggs has missed few opportunities to remind Arizona voters that Hobbs has been the focus of a criminal investigation. His campaign has mentioned the pending probe when announcing endorsements, when skewering Hobbs for refusing to debate, and when reporting his own fundraising numbers —among many other times.
The campaign released a video advertisement in July highlighting the investigation and alleging Hobbs was "for sale," and in June proposed an ethics package that was a direct response to the Hobbs administration.
Biggs has said he would have signed a bill introduced by Shope advocating for more transparency and pledged to forego an inaugural fund like the one Hobbs created that immediately raised questions given her 2022 campaign commitments to transparency.
The attorney general's determination that Hobbs would not face criminal charges did not take wind out of Biggs' sails.
"What Mayes did is, she said she didn't find evidence of a direct quid pro quo," Biggs told The Republic in a brief interview. "But she did say basically this is a stinky mess and the Legislature should clean it up. The Legislature tried, and Katie Hobbs vetoed the bill."
Biggs said he would urge Petersen to start a new investigation if both were elected in three months. A former prosecutor in Phoenix, Biggs would not say whether he would have filed charges against Hobbs, noting the voluminous evidence that has not yet been made public.
The congressman's gubernatorial campaign said in a statement that corruption had taken place. Biggs said it looked "amazingly correlative if not causative that the donations led to a rate increase."
Hobbs campaign did not comment on Mayes' findings, pointing to a letter Hobbs' campaign attorneys sent Mayes reasserting she had no influence over the state's contracting decisions related to Sunshine Residential.
Hobbs' spokesperson in the Governor's Office noted she introduced transparency measures earlier this year, though they did not become law.
“As she has done time and again, she will work in good faith with lawmakers from both sides of the aisle to protect taxpayer dollars, improve transparency, and tackle corruption head-on," Slater said. "If the legislature is interested in true transparency, they will work with Governor Hobbs to pass real, productive reforms."
Reach reporter Stacey Barchenger at stacey.barchenger@arizonarepublic.com or 480-416-5669.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Kris Mayes faces political blowback after clearing Katie Hobbs
