Mark Finchem files to run for office — but not from Pima County

PHOENIX — Rebuffed in his bid to become secretary of state, Republican Mark Finchem now wants to go back to the Legislature.

But not from the Pima County district that sent him to the state House of Representatives from 2014 through 2023.

Finchem filed a "statement of interest'' Wednesday to run for the state Senate in Legislative District 1. That's paperwork required before a candidate can begin collecting signatures to put their name on the ballot.

Only thing is, the district, which stretches from Black Canyon City and Wickenburg through Prescott all the way to Interstate 40, is currently represented by Ken Bennett. Bennett, a Prescott Republican, already filed his own statement of interest.

Finchem, in separate filings with the Secretary of State's Office, lists his address as being on Shiloh Road in Prescott.

Yet Finchem, who represented Oro Valley until the end of last year, made a filing in December with the Arizona Corporation Commission that listed an address in Surprise, in LD 29.

And he requested a packet on June 30 from Maricopa County elections officials to run for county recorder.

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Finchem did not return repeated messages seeking comment.

The filing comes even as Finchem continues his court challenges to his 2022 loss by more than 120,000 votes to Democrat Adrian Fontes for secretary of state.

Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Melissa Julian ordered Finchem to pay $40,565 in legal fees and costs to Fontes. The judge also imposed a separate $7,434 penalty against Daniel McCauley, Finchem's attorney, for filing a lawsuit that she previously called "groundless and not brought in good faith.''

His case is now before the state Court of Appeals.

Finchem's entry is not the first GOP challenge to Bennett, a former secretary of state, who was reelected to the Senate last year. He previously served from 1999 to 2007 and was president of the Senate for four of those years. 

Steve Zipperman also has declared his candidacy for the seat.

The district is solidly Republican, meaning whoever wins the August 2024 primary is virtually certain to be elected in November.