Yuma judicial race gains attention

YUMA, Ariz. (KYMA) - The Yuma County Superior Court Division 5 race is gaining a lot of attention after a letter was recently posted to social media.

In the letter, candidate John LeSueur said the political action committee (PAC), State + Local Election Alliance, funded $50,000 in favor of his opponent, Jorge Lozano, for a digital advertisement on social media.

This comes from an October 15 filing with Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes.

While it is not illegal, LeSueur, in the letter, said it's unprecedented, and said an out-of-state donation should not influence the race.

Both candidates talked about the matter.

"We see political action committees, and independent expenditure show up in partisan races. That's just the run of the mill these days. But what is unusual and what is unprecedented is to weigh in on a local county judicial race," LeSueur, who is also the Assistant City Attorney for the City of Yuma, expressed.

"Well I'm not going to complain if there's a separate entity out there looking into this race. One of the things that you have to understand is I've been living here in Yuma County for close to 50 years," Lozano explained.

When talking with Lesueur, he showed News 11 an additional filing from October 19 that went towards election mailers to the tune of $37,000.

"Having a partisan group come in and spend $87,000 in a rural judicial campaign. It threatens the ability of Yuma County to have local control over the selection of our judges," Lesueur detailed.

"That's five times I've been on the ballot most of my adult life. The common denominator here is an outsider. Mr. Lesueur is not from Yuma County. He moved into town three or four years ago. I don't know why these people are targeting him, but they're definitely not in contact with me," Lozano retorted.

In the mail, it said Lozano previously served as a Superior Court judge, and both candidates spoke on the matter.

"They are trying as hard as they can to convince voters that Mr. Lozano is an incumbent sitting superior Court judge and running for reelection, and that is not the case," Lesueur said.

"When I was a justice of the peace judge, I did eight years in Yuma County. When I was elected to that spot, there was a special order that came down from the Arizona Supreme Court that allowed me to pro tem as a superior court judge. So, yes, I would appear occasionally in Yuma County Superior Court," Lozano added.

When it comes to a small local nonpartisan judicial race, the people decide on the judge rather than the governor appointing someone.

"You have to look at his background…What is his ties to data centers? What is his ties to increasing utility rates here for Yuma County residents? If you want my opinion, that's why I think there's a PAC involved," Lozano said.

"If you care about local control, if you care about, hey, I want to have a say, I don't want the governor to make this decision for me. I think the voters should make that decision and I can understand that view. But if that's something that you have, you need to be really worried about having a national group come in in a partisan way," Lesueur added.

Both candidates also said it's up to the voters on who they want to elect, but to also do some research prior to casting their votes.

The race is to replace Judge Roger Nelson.