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No endorsement

The race

The Agua Fria Precinct, in the Avondale area, elects a justice of the peace this cycle. A justice of the peace presides over the precinct's justice court — traffic and misdemeanor cases, civil claims up to $10,000, evictions, and orders of protection. Arizona does not require a justice of the peace to be an attorney, and the office carries a four-year term. This race is on the November 3, 2026 general-election ballot as a vote, not a cancelled election: Arizona's cancellation statute, A.R.S. § 16-410, by its terms covers only elections held under Title 15, Title 48, or § 16-822, and Ballotpedia's general-election tables list this race on the general ballot with a single candidate. The sole general-election candidate is Lupe Contreras (Democratic). The incumbent, Joe "Pep" Guzman, also filed in the Democratic primary; Contreras is the candidate who advanced to the general ballot.

Lupe Contreras (Democratic) is a sitting Arizona legislator retiring from the Legislature to run for this seat. Per Vote Smart's biography and the Arizona Agenda's exit interview, he spent 14 years at the Capitol — the State House from 2013, the State Senate from 2015, and back to the House in 2023, where he served as House Minority Leader in 2023–2025. Before politics he loaded trucks for UPS, worked in former lawmaker Ben Miranda's law office and then at Pomeroy & Associates, studied criminal justice at Estrella Mountain and Glendale community colleges, and coached youth wrestling for more than a decade. The Agenda reports the move to the justice court was a long-planned final chapter of his public career, chosen so he can spend more time with his family. Credits: a decade-plus of elected service to this same West Valley community and years of work inside law offices. Dirt: no documented controversy, discipline, or scandal surfaced in this pass's news and campaign searches — and nothing in the record found speaks to courtroom experience, because he has never been a judge.

OUR CALL

Our call: no endorsement — uncontested race. Contreras's legislative record is long and documented, but a justice of the peace applies the law from the bench rather than writing it, and voters face no alternative on this ballot. We document the record; we do not manufacture a contest. The search behind this article is on its face: the county primary filer file (Contreras filed March 19, 2026, with 932 signatures), Ballotpedia's general-election table, Vote Smart's biography, and the Arizona Agenda's interview — each returned the service record above, and none returned a judicial record or a controversy.

For the complete Election 2026 breakdown — every race, claim by claim — see the full coverage on our website.

Vote early. Research your candidates. Choose the best moderates, whatever their party — no extremism from either side. And encourage your friends and family to do the same.

--- Sources

Election result — November 4, 2026

Result pending. No verified call (Associated Press or official) as of November 4, 2026. This page will be updated when the race is called or certified. The original article above is unchanged.

AI-assisted article — but the sources are human, and the facts are very real.

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