Noel Campell/submitted
By Ray Stern | Arizona Republic
Former Arizona lawmaker Noel Campbell dropped his bid for the state Senate seat in his Yavapai County district Monday, following unspecified “attacks and smears” on his family.
Campbell, an 80-year-old retired Navy pilot and owner of the Chapel Inn in Prescott, entered the race last year despite a documented domestic violence incident with his wife in December 2020.
He never faced charges after she declined to cooperate with the investigation.
The move leaves two candidates remaining for the Republican senate primary in the new Legislative District 1, which covers Prescott and most of Yavapai County: former lawmaker and Secretary of State Ken Bennett, who acted a spokesman and liaison last year for the Senate’s partisan audit of the 2020 election in Maricopa County; and real estate broker Steve Zipperman.
Senate President Karen Fann, the district’s incumbent and the person who authorized the audit, decided last year not to run for reelection.
State Rep. Noel Campbell is one of two lawmakers hoping to push a constitutional amendment that would allow public pensions to be modified in Arizona.
Campbell served in the Legislature from 2014 until 2021.
He did not deny his wife’s allegations in an interview with The Arizona Republic last month. Campbell said he had apologized to her and that he “was wrong.”
