(C) Arizona Mirror
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State refers GOP AG hopeful Rodney Glassman for prosecution over illegal donations [1]
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Date: 2025-08-19
Prosecutors are investigating Rodney Glassman, a top Republican candidate for attorney general, after state elections officials said they believe he violated campaign finance contribution limits numerous times over the last year.
Glassman, a frequent candidate for elected office in the Grand Canyon State, is a former Democratic Tucson City Councilman who unsuccessfully challenged U.S. Sen. John McCain as a Democrat in 2010. Since registering as a Republican in 2015 he’s made several unsuccessful bids for office, including for corporation commissioner in 2018, Maricopa County Assessor in 2020 and for attorney general in 2022.
But in his second try for attorney general in 2026, after losing the GOP primary for AG in 2022 to Abe Hamadeh, the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office concluded that Glassman repeatedly accepted campaign donations beyond legal limits.
In 2024, when the limit in Arizona for individual donations was $5,400, Glassman accepted 22 donations for amounts beyond that, according to a complaint submitted to the Secretary of State’s Office in April by Republican activist Mike Webb.
After examining Glassman’s campaign finance report for the first quarter of 2025, the Secretary of State’s Office found that he also accepted eight more contributions beyond the $5,500 limit this year.
In response to questions about the transactions from Amy Chan, who at the time was general counsel for the Secretary of State’s Office, Glassman campaign attorney Lance Broberg acknowledged that the 2024 donations were in violation of campaign finance limits. He wrote that the over-payments could be attributed to credit card processing fees and that the campaign was in the process of refunding them.
But the numbers don’t add up. Nineteen of the 22 over-payments in 2024 were for $5,500, exactly $100 more than the 2024 limit — equal to the new contribution limit that went into effect Jan. 1, 2025.
Neither Broberg nor Glassman’s campaign responded to the Arizona Mirror’s questions and requests for comment.
Only a handful of the over-limit donations seem to align with transaction fees charged by WinRed, the online donation platform that Glassman’s campaign uses. The fees are around 4% of the payment amount and rarely equal whole numbers. For example, a $5,400 donation to Glassman in 2024 would incur a WinRed processing fee of $221.29. If the donor clicks a button agreeing to cover the processing fee in addition to the donation, their total would be $5,621.49.
As of Monday, Glassman’s campaign donation page still allowed donations in excess of the limit if the donor agrees to cover transaction fees. Several other Republican candidates running in 2026 in Arizona also seem to accept payment of transaction fees beyond the $5,500 limit, including Arizona Senate President Warren Petersen, another Republican AG candidate who also uses WinRed.
Ryan O’Daniel, a campaign consultant for Petersen, told the Mirror that typically maximum donations are made by check, so there is no processing fee. But if campaigns do collect a processing fee that puts the donor over the $5,500 limit, the campaign is required to refund the excess amount within 60 days. But Arizona law specifies that it’s only legal if the campaign collects the excess donation “unknowingly.”
Glassman’s campaign had already missed that grace period for many of the over-donations when the initial complaint against him was lodged in April. Democratic election lawyer Jim Barton told the Mirror that any serious candidate should have a lawyer who understands these campaign finance rules to advise them.
According to Glassman’s 2025 campaign finance report for the second quarter, he refunded more than $12,000 in improper or over-donations. All of those refunds were made in late May or June, well past the 60-day grace period and after the complaint had been lodged with the Secretary of State’s Office.
“The complaint is cut and dry — the Glassman campaign broke the law,” O’Daniel told the Mirror. “If he can’t understand and follow the most basic laws, Arizonans can’t trust his judgment or ability to protect our state.”
After receiving the campaign’s response that didn’t quite add up, Chan did something that’s not common in Arizona: She forwarded the campaign finance complaint against Glassman to the attorney general for possible prosecution.
“Having considered the evidence and arguments presented, the Secretary of State’s Office concludes that there is reasonable cause to believe the (Glassman campaign) violated campaign finance law,” Chan wrote in her referral to the Attorney General Kris Mayes.
Because Glassman is a possible opponent of Mayes, a Democrat who is running for reelection in 2026, Richie Taylor, a spokesman for Mayes, told the Mirror that Mayes couldn’t comment on whether she believes that Glassman violated campaign finance law.
And Mayes’ office can’t conduct the investigation, so the AG’s Office forwarded the complaint to the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office. But because Glassman and Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell are personal friends, MCAO is in the process of finding another county attorney’s office to handle the complaint.
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[1] Url:
https://azmirror.com/2025/08/19/state-refers-gop-ag-hopeful-rodney-glassman-for-prosecution-over-illegal-donations/
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