11 May 28th - June 3rd, 2026 phoenixnewtimes.com PHOENIX NEW TIMES | NEWS | FEATURE | FOOD & DRINK | ARTS & CULTURE | MUSIC | CONCERTS | CANNABIS | records online at the Arizona Secretary of State’s website, Biggs gave $5,500 to the Friends of Warren Petersen in August 2025. But Biggs — who says she is not related to Arizona gubernatorial candidate Andy Biggs — claimed she was not directly involved in the Petersen campaign. Caldwell, who also attended the event at which Biggs confronted Glassman, has taken things a step further. In addition to posting the redacted Von Gold affidavit, she also posted a portion of one of the supposed Nazarian tapes to her X account, which has more than 36,000 followers. Caldwell, who bills herself as a citizen journalist, also filed a May 13 complaint against Glassman with the Arizona Attorney General’s Office. She attached the redacted Von Gold affidavit, which quoted the alleged Nazarian tapes as stating that Jeremy was “raped multiple times as a child” by his older brother. Caldwell also included details of another uncorroborated allegation of sexual miscon- duct from “an anonymous source” regarding “a good friend of the source” who suppos- edly dated Rodney Glassman 25 years ago in Tucson. In an interview with New Times, Caldwell admitted that she supported Petersen, but said she does not work for his campaign. On her website, Caldwell mentions that she signed a petition to get Petersen on the ballot. The website also states that she “helped elect a grassroots Senate President with Warren Petersen now leading the way in AZ.” Similarly, Callini told New Times that she believed Petersen to be the superior candidate, but insisted that she was not acting on behalf of the Petersen campaign but only as a concerned mother. The office of Attorney General Kris Mayes, the incumbent Democrat who in November will take on the winner of the GOP primary, quickly responded to Caldwell’s complaint. “Based on a review of all information provided to our office, it has been determined that the local law enforce- ment agency where the incidents occurred would be your best option to file this complaint,” the response reads. Petersen insists his hands are clean of the charge of circulating the allegations against Glassman. Yet he hasn’t shied away from hitting his opponent over the head with them. “The information didn’t come from my campaign,” Petersen said when New Times contacted him. “But shouldn’t Glassman be more worried about answering why three credible people have now said that he sexu- ally abused children?” Asked who these “three credible people” were, Petersen mentioned Von Gold, Nazarian and “the woman from Tucson” — apparently the one mentioned in Caldwell’s affidavit. However, he said he knew these people only from the affidavits released on social media, raising the question of how he could have ascertained their credibility. New Times also asked Petersen if he was aware of the Von Gold affidavit prior to its publication. Petersen replied via text that “I heard some rumors.” But Petersen knew more than that. In fact, Petersen was aware of the Von Gold affidavit as early as late February, because Petersen knew that a confidential source supportive of his campaign had passed an unredacted copy to New Times. Indeed, Petersen recently contacted New Times to ask if the Von Gold affidavit would become the subject of news coverage. Similarly, Rodney Glassman must have been familiar with Von Gold’s allegations long before he was confronted with them at Rudy’s Bar-B-Q. His campaign’s attorney, Broberg, fielded the claim from Von Gold and shut him down. Why Glassman was so poorly prepared for the inevitable confronta- tion is not clear. As the July 21 primary draws near, so does the potential impact of the accusations. Early voting begins June 24, and a Clean Elections Commission debate between Petersen and Glassman is scheduled for May 28. Petersen’s strength is with the party faithful, who cheered him when President Donald Trump name-checked him at a Turning Point USA rally in April. The same crowd booed the mere mention of Glassman’s name when it was dropped by Rep. Paul Gosar, a Glassman supporter. Glassman’s history as a turncoat Democrat — he ran for Senate as a Democrat against John McCain in 2010, but became a Republican in 2015 with the advent of Trump — and as a perennial losing candidate for a variety of offices does not bode well for him. But Glassman has funds aplenty and has been making ad buys on cable TV and radio. His most recent campaign finance report showed him with more than $4 million in cash on hand, at least $1 million of which was his own money. Meanwhile, Petersen had $1.5 million on hand at the end of the same reporting period. That may explain the intensity of the sales pitch from various parties to New Times regarding the Von Gold affidavit. Though Petersen’s political surrogates have seized upon his allegations for their own purposes, Von Gold insists that he just wants compensation for what he’s been through. He denied trying to blackmail the Glassmans. “What can I blackmail you on when everything’s already out there?” he said. “Now I want the discovery and I want to get the financial records and then I’ll fuck you guys with the IRS and the whole family can go to jail. Fuck these elitist piece-of-shit people, seriously.” Claim Game from p 10 Republican activist Merissa Caldwell. (Stephen Lemons)
