Jennifer Wright (lawyer)

Jennifer Wright is an American lawyer and politician who served as an assistant Arizona attorney general from 2019 to 2023. She headed the attorney general's election integrity unit.

Jennifer Wright
Occupation(s)	Lawyer, politician
Political party	Republican

Career

Wright did computer programing work for the city of Phoenix, Arizona and served as a director of technology for a financial services broker dealer.^[1] She conducted policy research for the Goldwater Institute and the Institute for Justice.^[1] In 2010, she worked for U.S. representative J. D. Hayworth.^[2]

Wright was a Republican and Tea Party-affiliated candidate in the 2011 Phoenix mayoral election.^[3][4] Her candidacy was backed by the Arizona Freedom Alliance.^[1] She garnered 16,739 votes (11.85%) and fundraised approximately US$54,000 (equivalent to $73,140 in 2023).^[5] During the 2012 election, Wright was a ballot security supervisor and she co-chaired Verify the Vote Arizona which is associated with True the Vote.^[6] In 2014, she managed election day operations.^[6]

In August 2019, Wright joined the Attorney General's office as the assistant Arizona attorney general.^[6] She worked in the appeals and constitutional litigation division in the elections integrity unit.^[6][7] Her tweets during the 2022 Arizona elections generated controversy.^[7] Wright's resignation letter was received on December 31, 2022 and Wright's office was empty when the Mayes Administration arrived.^[8][9] On July 5, 2023, she submitted a US$2 million claim against the Attorney General's office and Kris Mayes for falsely claiming that Wright was terminated.^[10]

Electoral history

2011 Phoenix mayoral election: First ballot, August 30, 2011^[11][12]

Candidate		Votes	%
Greg Stanton		53,553	37.90
Wes Gullett		29,020	20.54
Peggy Neely		17,984	12.73
Claude Mattox		16,842	11.92
Jennifer Wright		16,739	11.85
Anna Brennan		7,110	5.03
write-ins		52	0.04
Total votes		141,300	100.00

References

1. Bui, Lynh (2011-07-30). "Wright pushing for less red tape". Arizona Republic. p. 13. Retrieved 2023-07-09 – via Newspapers.com.
2. Anglen, Robert (2022-11-27). "Assistant Arizona AG criticized operations before polls closed". Arizona Daily Star. pp. B12. Retrieved 2023-07-09 – via Newspapers.com.
3. Phoenix mayoral election
4. Hurtado, Allison (2011-08-26). "Wright gets more endorsements from conservative state leaders". Ahwatukee Foothills News. Retrieved 2023-07-09.
5. Bui, Lynh (2011-09-10). "Stanton scored top vote for mayor in all districts". Arizona Republic. p. 501. Retrieved 2023-07-09 – via Newspapers.com.
6. Duda, Jeremy (2019-08-27). "Dems: AG's hire for elections integrity unit has fueled bogus election fraud claims". Eastern Arizona Courier. Retrieved 2023-07-09.
7. Phillips, Mark (2022-12-01). "Calls for AG elections investigator to recuse herself because of tweets". ABC15 Arizona in Phoenix (KNXV). Retrieved 2023-07-09.
8. Anglen, Robert (January 5, 2023). "Former Arizona assistant attorney general pushes back on claims she was forced out". The Arizona Republic. Retrieved 2024-10-30.
9. Anglen, Robert (January 12, 2023). "Assistant attorney general who launched dubious Arizona election probe ousted". The Arizona Republic. Retrieved 2023-07-09.
10. Stern, Ray (July 8, 2023). "Departed chief of Election Integrity Unit seeks $2M in claim against Attorney General Mayes". The Arizona Republic. Retrieved 2023-07-09.
11. Source: Website of the City of Phoenix (First round Archived 2011-11-12 at the Wayback Machine)
12. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-11-12. Retrieved 2011-09-28.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)