{
  "id": 17719977,
  "title": "Alexander Kolodin eyes Arizona secretary of state post: Early life, family, legal career and key election priorities",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/11/02/alexander-kolodin-eyes-arizona-secretary-of-state-post-early-life",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-11-02T01:11:52.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Hindustan Times - World News",
    "slug": "hindustan-times-world-news",
    "url": "https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/us-news/alexander-kolodin-career-family-net-worth-and-more-about-arizona-republican-running-for-secretary-of-state-101791971774043.html"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Alexander Kolodin, a Republican candidate for Arizona secretary of state, is focused on election security and voting procedures. In the Republican primary, he secured approximately 59.8% of the vote, defeating Democratic incumbent Adrian Fontes, who received around 40.2%. As chief election officer, Kolodin would oversee Arizona's election systems.\n\nBefore his political career, Kolodin practiced election law for over a decade in Arizona. In 2014, he advocated for public access to election data stored on central count computers and challenged instructions given to Maricopa County voters who voted by mail in 2020. He also filed a lawsuit against Fontes in 2024, alleging non-compliance with federal voter registration requirements under the National Voter Registration Act.\n\nKolodin, who was born in Chandler, Arizona, moved to Scottsdale with his family when he was four years old. He graduated from Chandler High School and earned a degree with honors from Georgetown University. During law school, he served as a Reagan Fellow at the Goldwater Institute’s Scharf-Norton Center for Constitutional Litigation and later founded his own law practice, the Kolodin Law Group.\n\nAs a state representative, Kolodin has served on committees dealing with elections, the judiciary, public safety, and regulatory oversight. He sponsored House Bill 2022, which addressed the election calendar, ballot signature correction deadlines, and the presence of authorized party representatives during voting activities. He has also advocated for citizenship verification in elections and the SAFE Act, which requires documentary proof of U.S. citizenship when registering to vote.\n\nAs a small business owner, Kolodin has focused on legislative work affecting Arizona communities. In 2023, he advocated for legislation to help the Rio Verde Foothills residents regain temporary water access. He also addressed AI-generated political deepfakes and chaired a hearing on their impact on democracy and elections.\n\nIn August 2026, Kolodin faced a controversy when a 2020 police bodycam footage showed him being handcuffed by Scottsdale police. The footage raised questions about his actions and led to disciplinary action by the State Bar of Arizona. Despite these challenges, Kolodin remains focused on his campaign priorities and has repeatedly brought up an alleged Sinaloa drug cartel case during his debates with Fontes.",
  "summary": "Republican Alexander Kolodin is set to face Democratic incumbent Adrian Fontes in the 2026 US elections for Arizona secretary of state.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}