Glassman returns, again: Rodney in GOP attorney general primary

Rodney Glassman, the former Democratic Tucson City Councilman and U.S. Senate candidate, is continuing his apparent quest to run for every elected office in Arizona, this time setting his sights on the Republican primary for state attorney general.

Glassman revealed his latest campaign on Thursday, featuring a photo of Donald Trump prominently in his announcement video, and proclaiming that he's "running for Attorney General to protect you from the government."

The perennial candidate, who resigned his seat on the Council to become the Democratic nominee running against U.S. Sen. John McCain in 2010 (spoiler: he lost), ran for Maricopa County assessor last year, but fell short in the Republican primary. Glassman had unsuccessfully lobbied to be appointed to that seat earlier in the year.

In 2018, he ran for a seat on the Arizona Corporation Commission as a Republican, but came in third, missing out on statewide elected office by a few thousand votes.

Over the years, Glassman has transformed himself from his early political attempts as a progressive Tucson Democratic ally of U.S. Rep. Raul Grijalva, to become a darling of the most conservative Maricopa County Republicans — a shift he touts in his new campaign video, which is oddly framed as a confessional during an anonymous support group or therapy session.

"Other recovering Democrats like Ronald Reagan and Donald Trump have inspired me," Glassman says as the camera pans over framed photos of the two former Republican presidents.

"As the Biden/Harris administration continues to threaten the Arizonan way of life, I will stand squarely in their way," Glassman said in his press release. In his video, he sits knees wide apart in a banquet room stackable chair.

Speaking to a group of white actors seated in a circle in his commercial, Glassman alludes to the claims of "fraud" in Arizona's elections by other Trump supporters, and says there will be "no more mandates, no more shutdowns" if he's elected as Arizona attorney general.

The video is definitely no "Sweet Home Arizona."

Prior to his 2007 election to the City Council, to an open seat in Ward 2, Glassman in 2003 had attempted to convince the Pima County Board of Supervisors to appoint him to fill Grijalva's office on that body after the Democrat stepped down to become a congressman. After being elected, Glassman rotated into the largely honorary position of vice mayor, which he listed on his business cards along with his rank as an Eagle Scout.

Glassman was boosted as a Senate candidate in the Democratic Party primary by what insiders said were pledges of campaign funding that weren't fulfilled, despite Glassman's wealthy family connections. Glassman's campaign was roiled by turnover, with numerous staffers leaving in the run-up to the election. After McCain won with nearly 60 percent of the vote in the general election, Glassman moved north to the Phoenix metro area, becoming a lobbyist for Waste Management.

In 2011, Glassman campaigned to become chairman of the Arizona Democratic Party, but lost to Andrei Cherny.

He served as the interim city town manager of the Phoenix suburb of Cave Creek in 2013, and has been an attorney with several Valley of the Sun law firms.

Although Glassman was still angling for positions in the Democratic state leadership in 2014 (including again wanting to be state chair), he shifted to the Republicans, by 2016 becoming a co-chair of a panel under Secretary of State Michele Reagan. In April 2016, he gave an invocation at the Arizona Republican Party state convention.