Former Yuma judge announces bid for the Attorney General’s office

CBS 13's Cody Lee sits down with Andrew Gould in his first TV interview following decision

YUMA, Ariz. (KYMA, KECY) - We’re about a year and a half out from the 2022 election in Arizona. The voters will be choosing a new attorney general. In the running is Andrew Gould, a former Yuma County Superior Court judge.

Current Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich is termed out however he can still run for other positions.

That is leaving things wide open for Gould, who was a prosecutor in Yuma and later became the presiding judge at the superior court.

Following his time in Yuma, he was appointed to justice positions three different times by three different governors.

He served as a judge at the state’s highest court when Gov. Doug Ducey chose him to fill a vacancy back in 2016. Last month, Gould decided to step away from the supreme court to pursue serving Arizona residents differently.

“Is there something more I can do to help serve the people, the state is the attorney general, I could see that I think especially in this time that we're living in the ages office just has a tremendous capacity to help on all the important issues that are facing the state right now. And, in fact, in the country, you see the ag's power that they have and the importance that they have,” the former judge said.
 
Gould says his top three issues he will focus on are enforcing state law, election integrity, and first amendment rights.

“Whatever people think about the 2020 election, there are two things that face the state and the ag is going to have to address. One is you can't change election laws in the middle of an election. And so the ag has to be vigilant in that regard. And second, you can't allow Washington DC to federalize state election loss,” Gould explained.

With still 18 months out from the election, Gould has set his goals to focus on policies happening in 2022 and beyond.

“The issues the General Brnovich has faced are in some ways, the same as the issues I'm going to face, but there are new issues and new challenges,”

Gould is not the only Republican that will be on the ticket. Tiffany Shedd, a former U.S. congressional candidate, has already announced her bid for A.G. as well.

As for Democrats, one source close with 13 On Your Side, confirms state representative Diego Rodriguez is also planning to run.