Laura Conover

Laura Conover (Democratic Party) is the Pima County Attorney in Arizona. She assumed office on January 1, 2021. Her current term ends on January 1, 2029.

Conover (Democratic Party) ran for re-election for Pima County Attorney in Arizona. She won in the general election on November 5, 2024.

Conover completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Laura Conover earned a law degree from the University of Arizona. Her career experience includes working as a district attorney.^[1]

Elections

2024

General election

General election for Pima County Attorney

Incumbent Laura Conover defeated Howard Druan in the general election for Pima County Attorney on November 5, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Laura Conover (D)	74.5	298,175
	Submit photo	Howard Druan (G)	23.6	94,383
		Other/Write-in votes	1.9	7,657

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 400,215
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Pima County Attorney

Incumbent Laura Conover defeated Mike Jette in the Democratic primary for Pima County Attorney on July 30, 2024.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Laura Conover	67.4	70,334
	Mike Jette	32.4	33,833
	Other/Write-in votes	0.2	160

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 104,327
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Green primary election

Green primary for Pima County Attorney

Howard Druan advanced from the Green primary for Pima County Attorney on July 30, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Submit photo	Howard Druan (Write-in)	75.6	68
		Other/Write-in votes	24.4	22

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 90
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Endorsements

To view Conover's endorsements as published by their campaign, click here. Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Conover in this election.

2020

General election

General election for Pima County Attorney

Laura Conover won election in the general election for Pima County Attorney on November 3, 2020.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Laura Conover (D)	96.2	347,073
	Other/Write-in votes	3.8	13,851

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 360,924
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Pima County Attorney

Laura Conover defeated Jonathan Mosher and Mark Diebolt in the Democratic primary for Pima County Attorney on August 4, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Laura Conover	59.0	82,708
	Submit photo	Jonathan Mosher	34.5	48,419
	Submit photo	Mark Diebolt	6.4	8,957
		Other/Write-in votes	0.1	201

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 140,285
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Campaign themes

2024

Ballotpedia survey responses

Laura Conover completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Conover's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

Laura Conover is the current Pima County Attorney. A lifelong Democrat and Tucsonan, she was elected in 2020, at the peak of the Covid-19 Pandemic and the crime spike it caused.

In her first term she led her office to clear the existing homicide case backlog, re-established the Office’s fraud unit to protect our community from financial scams and crime, she ended the practice of discretionarily charging minors as adults, stopped seeking the death penalty within her jurisdiction, improved office morale by securing the first agency-wide pay raise since 1997, and helped partner to bring down the homicide and robbery rates by 36% and 39% respectively from two years ago: out performing the rest of the State and Nation.

Public service is a family endeavor for Laura and her family. Her brother became a police officer and now runs a highly specialized, non uniformed mental health team, within the Tucson Police Department. Before her time in office Laura was an experienced criminal trial attorney who used her position to advocate for the rights of the poor, to advocate for victims, and to help train and mentor the next generation of attorneys tasked with keeping our community safe and sound.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

Protecting our Community Reinstated Pima County’s first fraud unit, recovering over $1M by year one for scam victims; Worked with Tucson public safety to reduce homicides by 36% and robberies by 39% from their pandemic peak, achieving one of the nation’s fastest recoveries.
Smart on Crime Abandoned wasteful, failed, and racially harmful policies such as the death penalty and prosecuting children as adults discretionarily.
Fighting for Reproductive Rights Fought to protect safe, legal abortion access when Republicans tried to reinstate an 1864 abortion ban and won; will always continue fighting to protect our rights to reproductive freedom.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Public safety, public health, and criminal justice reform.

Who do you look up to? Whose example would you like to follow, and why?

My mother. My mother who raised us as a single mama. She was, and still is God Bless, our inspiration.

Is there a book, essay, film, or something else you would recommend to someone who wants to understand your political philosophy?

To Kill a Mockingbird, Dead Man Walking by Sister Helen Prejean, works by Bryan Stevenson, The Audacity of Hope by Pres Obama

What characteristics or principles are most important for an elected official?

The mission itself is clear: in this era we are here to protect American Democracy. In the last three years (my years in Office) our very fundamental rights have been eroded. I have stood personally and professionally in court defending the right to bodily autonomy, to a safe and uninfringed right to vote, and now I have raised my voice for the unhoused. I find myself a leader, holding the line for the very core values of what makes up the community of Pima County.

What qualities do you possess that you believe would make you a successful officeholder?

I am provably and undeniably, and reliably a leader of backbone and courage. The USSC has handed me so many impossible challenges in my limited time in office, and I have held the line, time and time again against the worst of what our laws can do to dehumanize our brothers and sisters. My opponents or naysayers, and most certainly the former administration I replaced, is alarmed that I cannot be persuaded to do anything but what is right for our community.

What do you believe are the core responsibilities for someone elected to this office?

I have said time and again Public Safety is Public Health, and Public Health is Public Safety. I am a COVID-borne administrator, and every move I make must be in favor of both as defined above. Frankly under the socio economic landscape of Pima County, I am strictly funded, and perhaps appropriately so, to use my precious and limited resources to focus on violent and victim crime where harm has occurred and must be accounted for. Our prosecution and victim services units assure this is so.

But please recall, I am not only the "D.A." the top prosecutor for the County, but I am also the "County's Attorney," and this is where our large Civil law firm advances so many more of our community's concerns. Allow me to elaborate:

Our Health Law Unit, already inundated with a COVID spike of court ordered treatment litigation, helped to write to brief and to argue the Statewide abortion case that provided the entire State with Repro Healthcare for 2 plus years after we won at the Court of Appeals.
And our Enviro Unit just this spring alone helped settle 3 groundwater cases that both preserved the safety of the water and yet still in negotiations kept small businesses afloat and local employees at work.

What legacy would you like to leave?

I did everything I could, in the most challenging of times. And I inspired a movement toward a safer and healthier community, for all not just for some.

What is the first historical event that happened in your lifetime that you remember? How old were you at the time?

NASA had a disaster when I was still quite young, and I think the concept of true service came into strong contrast for me. I think I learned a lot in those summer days. The Rodney King riots also had a profound impact upon my thinking on race, although I was yet still very young.
I was in Junior High when Clinton ran the first time. I can't be defined as a "Kids for Clinton," which I learned later was happening in California, but I was very involved, in my own way.

What was your very first job? How long did you have it?

I applied to scoop ice cream at a 50s Diner, but my music acumen scored me the role of Disc Jockey on a *real* set of record players. I could move seamlessly between 45s and 33s to create a really fun in-house environment. I was 17. (not my first job, but definitely my fun job!)

What is your favorite book? Why?

To Kill A Mockingbird. It had a profound effect on the trajectory of my career.

If you could be any fictional character, who would you want to be?

Superman! At the risk of offending so many, he was always my favorite in the Justice League.

What was the last song that got stuck in your head?

This is Me, off of the Greatest Showman Soundtrack

What is something that has been a struggle in your life?

Mama did her very best as a single mama. She is our absolute hero. It's no doubt that she is the spark that led to both brother and I representing vulnerable populations.

Tell us your favorite joke.

I love this idea here!

What organizations or individuals have endorsed your campaign?

Congressman Raul Grijalva

Secretary of State Adrian Fontes
Former Congresswoman Ann Kirkpatrick
LD18 Representative Chris Mathis
Former US Senator Dennis DeConcini
Dr. DaMond Holt
Former Attorney General General Terry Goddard
Attorney General Kris Mayes
Moms Fed Up
Former State Rep Andres Cano
Planned Parenthood Advocates of Arizona
Congressman Ruben Gallego
LD 18 Representative Nancy Guitierez
Former Vice Mayor Nina Trasoff
Pastor Grady Scott
Pat DeConcini
Susy Rotkis
LD18 Senator Priya Sundareshan
Former Congressman Ron Barber
SMART
Stonewall Democrats of AZ

Communications Workers of America Arizona State Council

Tucson City Mayor Regina Romero
Arizona List
Ward 2 City Council Member Paul Cunningham

Ward 3 City Council Member Kevin Dahl

What are your views on financial transparency and government accountability?

Transparency has been a key to our administration and by popular community demand. We try to be accessible to the community on nights and weekends, to a fault.
We also launched the Office's first Fraud Unit in 20 years, and we have a front facing form on the Office website to encourage ease of access.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

2020

Laura Conover did not complete Ballotpedia's 2020 Candidate Connection survey.

External links

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Candidate

Pima County Attorney

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Footnotes

↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on July 3, 2024

[1] Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on July 3, 2024

[1]

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Laura Conover

Contents

Biography

Elections

2024

General election

General election for Pima County Attorney

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Pima County Attorney

Green primary election

Green primary for Pima County Attorney

Endorsements

2020

General election

General election for Pima County Attorney

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Pima County Attorney

Campaign themes

2024

Ballotpedia survey responses

2020

See also

External links

Footnotes

Information about voting

2025 Elections

2026 Elections

Election analysis

Trending

Public Policy

Information for candidates

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