Years ago, the legendary former Massachusetts lawmaker (and Speaker of the House) Tip O’Neill coined a timeless bit of political wisdom.
All politics is local.
For Arizona golfers during this election season, the phrase has new meaning.
Why? Because the late stages of the Arizona attorney general’s race have been defined by a spat between two candidates over one of Arizona’s most treasured economic drivers. Yep — you guessed it: golf.
The story begins with an otherwise harmless interview from Kris Mayes, the Democrat believed to be leading Warren Petersen, her Republican counterpart, by as many as 11 points in the polls.
Mayes was speaking to the Politico Energy podcast about a topic at the forefront of the midterms (and the golf world) in 2026 — AI data centers — when she raised a frequent complaint about water usage. While many AI companies have looked to America’s vast swathes of undeveloped desert land as the ideal location for the data center buildout needed to advance the technology, many environmental groups have argued that data centers, which require some water for cooling systems, shouldn’t be built in climates prone to drought.
In truth, Arizona has a water problem far beyond AI. It is a desert state in a corner of the United States that is growing hotter and drier. Irrespective of political affiliation, water sources and conservation efforts represent a chunk of many Arizona elected officials’ jobs.
In her interview, Mayes might have been grasping for that point when she found herself stumbling into a big green hornet’s nest. Suddenly, she was talking about Arizona’s golf courses.
“We have way, way too much grass in Arizona,” Mayes said. “We probably frankly — and I’m sure the golf industry is not going to like this when I say this — we probably have too many golf courses in Arizona right now.”
Mayes tried to cover her tracks, doubling back later in the interview to point out that golf courses have evolved into impressively efficient water users over time, and are currently responsible for just 2 percent of Arizona’s overall water despite their prominence in the state. But it didn’t take long for her opponent, Warren Petersen, to smell blood in the water.
Within a day, Petersen had released an attack ad to the tune of Dave Loggins’ famed “Augusta,” bringing his opponent’s comments to light.
“Golf is an important industry and pastime in Arizona, but Kris Mayes thinks we have too many golf courses,” Petersen says in the ad. “We need to save golf.”
The good news — at least for the golfers of Arizona — is that it turns out being “anti-golf” is pretty bad politics. In a tweet posted soon after Petersen’s ad started circulating on social media, Kris Mayes walked back her earlier comments and clarified that she remains in favor of her state’s $6 billion golf industry.
“Relax, nobody’s closing golf courses,” Mayes posted. “My point is we need incentives to help all Arizonans and major industries swap thirsty grass and catch rainwater, especially if our water situation gets worse — while I take on the foreign mega-farms and data centers draining our water.”
