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Democrat Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes retained a leftist lawfare group last year for “election integrity,” just months before it briefed her office on prosecuting supporters of former President Donald Trump’s 2020 campaign.

“Our work will be provided pro bono. … We are pleased to have this opportunity to be of service and to work with you,” reads a May 4, 2023, letter from Christine Sun, senior vice president for the States United Democracy Center, to Chief Deputy Attorney General Dan Barr.

Barr signed the agreement with States United on May 15, 2023, according to the document. Jeff Clark, senior fellow at the Center for Renewing America, first published the contract on Dec. 22 on X. 

The document explained “terms and conditions” under which States United would “advise the Arizona Attorney General’s Office … in connection with developing legal strategies to ensure the integrity and security of elections.” 

The contract demands Mayes’ office “will cooperate fully with us [States United] in your matters.” It also stipulates relevant communications, “internal administrative material,” and “research notes” — “other than those with you or opposing counsel” — can be “destroyed in our sole discretion and consistent with our document preservation policies.” 

Mayes’ office began retaining States United just before the group provided a memo on July 27, 2023, suggesting an anti-Trump prosecution, according to The Daily Signal. The attorney general announced an indictment in April of this year against 18 of Trump’s 2020 supporters, including so-called “fake electors” and top Trump advisers Rudy Giuliani and Mark Meadows. 

The memo implied it was criminal to prepare alternate slates of electors (which it deemed “false electors”) in case results were overturned, and suggested bringing criminal charges, including conspiracy, forgery, and fraudulent schemes and artifices — that were ultimately included in the indictment. 

The group recommended Mayes pursue “further investigation” of Trump, Giuliani, Meadows, lawyer John Eastman, then-RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel, and election integrity advocate Cleta Mitchell. 

States United is a leftist election law group that opposes election integrity laws like those requiring voter ID and supports Democrat attempts to reduce election security, according to InfluenceWatch. The group praised selective prosecution against Trump, and The Federalist reported that a States United official suggested “criminal charges” for officials who refuse to certify election results.

States United has been involved in Arizona for years. Members of the group coordinated a call in 2022 with the Institute for Strategic Dialogue — a global censorship group tied to the infamous Global Engagement Center — and Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer’s office, The Federalist previously reported. Richer’s office also consulted with States United about trying to get Arizona State University Professor Aaron Ludwig fired for posting election security concerns online. 

Richer’s efforts to fire the professor sparked a recent lawsuit, in which grassroots group We The People Arizona sued Maricopa County to obtain emails from the exchange. The Maricopa County attorney agreed on Dec. 20 to turn the documents over, attorney Bryan Blehm told The Federalist, but officials had not done so at the time of publication.

Blehm said the case is currently on the 30-day dismissal calendar, but if the county fails to comply today, he will seek to have the case removed from the dismissal calendar on Tuesday.

“This whole thing is a high priority in our organization,” We The People Arizona Chair Shelby Busch told The Federalist. “Not just the Aaron Ludwig thing, but this whole concept of the very radical-out-front, leftist organizations that have been at the forefront of a lot of this, and how they’re colluding with our government agencies.”

Logan Washburn is a staff writer covering election integrity. He is a spring 2025 fellow of The College Fix. He graduated from Hillsdale College, served as Christopher Rufo’s editorial assistant, and has bylines in The Wall Street Journal, The Tennessean, and The Daily Caller. Logan is from Central Oregon but now lives in rural Michigan.