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Endorses Mesnard

The race

The San Marcos Precinct covers the Chandler area. A justice of the peace presides over the precinct's justice court — the court most residents will ever actually meet. Per State Affairs' reporting on this race, the judge elected here will be "making calls on traffic violations, domestic disputes, landlord-tenant issues and civil claims up to $10,000." Arizona does not require justices of the peace to be lawyers.

This is the only contested justice of the peace race in Maricopa County in November 2026: the other 17 precincts have a single general-election candidate each and are covered in our roster listings. Azcentral's primary reporting makes the same point — San Marcos is the only Maricopa JP race set for a named Democratic-versus-Republican contest in November, and the Arizona Agenda notes the last time this precinct's JP seat drew more than one candidate was 2010. And this is no sleepy matchup: it pits the incumbent judge, a former Democratic state representative, against a sitting Republican state senator and former Speaker of the Arizona House.

The verified roster is: Jennifer Jermaine (Democratic, incumbent) and Javan Daniel "J.D." Mesnard (Republican).

The candidates

Jennifer Jermaine (Democratic, incumbent) won election to the San Marcos Justice Precinct in 2022 and took her oath of office on January 3, 2023, per her Arizona Magistrates biography. She is currently the Associate Presiding Justice of the Peace for the Maricopa County Justice Courts — the system's second-ranking JP, a peer-standing fact about her first term. She came to the bench after two terms in the Arizona State Legislature, where she served on the Government, Elections Reform, and Military and Veterans Affairs committees. A first-generation descendant of the White Earth Nation, she chaired Arizona's Study Committee on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. She holds a BA in International Business from San Diego State University and an MPA from Arizona State University, spent years in the nonprofit sector helping people start and succeed in small businesses, and lives in Chandler with her family.

Javan Daniel "J.D." Mesnard (Republican) is a sitting state senator whose legislative term is ending, running for this court instead of reelection, per State Affairs. His path: eight years as a Capitol policy advisor on education, transportation, and retirement issues, then election to the Arizona House in 2010 — where he was named chairman of the House Finance Committee as a freshman — Speaker of the House in 2017, and the state Senate from 2019 for a further eight years. Arizona Agenda calls him the Senate's "process nerd," with a reputation for deep procedural and tax knowledge "among lawmakers in both parties." In his own accounting to State Affairs, he is most proud of his work to raise teacher pay and his effort to create Arizona's flat tax in 2020 and 2021: "There were certain things I really hoped to achieve for the state by simplifying, reforming (and) overhauling the tax code." Of this race he said: "I was looking for how else can I serve my community and use the skills and talents I feel I have" — noting he was formerly involved in writing some of the laws that affect justice courts, that the job is closer to home than the Capitol, and that, as a judicial candidate, he will not endorse candidates for his own legislative seat.

Pros / Cons

OUR CALL

Our call: endorse J.D. Mesnard (Republican).

A justice of the peace does not make policy; the job is to apply the law as written, evenly, to the landlord and the tenant alike. The basis for this endorsement is stated and sourced: Mesnard helped write the laws this court operates under, built his legislative name on simplifying the tax code into a flat tax, and is already observing a judicial candidate's restraint by refusing to endorse in other races. Jermaine is a credible incumbent with real standing among her fellow judges, and voters who weight courtroom incumbency above all else have an honest case. Ours weighs the law-writing record and the tax record more heavily for a seat whose entire duty is fidelity to the law as the people's representatives wrote it.

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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