Two candidates, Democrat Julie Gunnigle, (Photo in story) and Republican Rachel Mitchell are offering voters sharply contrasting approaches to the criminal justice system.
By Jimmy Jenkins || The Arizona Republic
Members of The Arizona Republic meet with the candidates for Maricopa County Attorney in The Arizona Republic board room in Phoenix on Tuesday, Oct. 4, 2022.
The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office has shaped up into one of the hotter races of the upcoming November election, even though it’s down ballot from bigger contests.
Two candidates, Democrat Julie Gunnigle, and Republican Rachel Mitchell are offering voters sharply contrasting approaches to the criminal justice system.
Voters will decide which of the radically different visions they want to shape an agency that prosecutes thousands of cases every year, the lion’s share statewide. The contest comes at a time that attitudes about criminal justice reform, police violence, and how to adjudicate non-violent offenses are all being reexamined.
Mitchell, the current county attorney, was appointed after the resignation of Alister Adel.
Adel’s departure triggered a special election to select who would serve out the remainder of her term, which ends on Jan. 1, 2025.
Mitchell has served as a bureau chief at the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office overseeing teams of prosecutors, notably the sex-crimes bureau. That experience led her to be tapped by the Senate Judiciary Committee to question witnesses during the hearing involving Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh in 2018.
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