Arizona’s top elected officials are at odds over an alleged failure to report a cyber attack on the state’s election system.
Arizona State Rep. John Gillette reported filing an election security complaint with Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), as well as a referral to the Department of Homeland Security (DOJ) and Department of Justice (DOJ), over alleged failures by Arizona’s top Democrats to address an Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) cyber attack on Arizona’s election system.
The attack impacted the state’s candidate portal earlier this summer. Multiple candidate photos were replaced with pictures of the late Iranian Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. The attackers also posted text reading, “Khomeini’s followers woke up! Our erosive revenge has begun.”
The cyber attack occurred after the U.S. bombed Iran’s nuclear site.
Gillette accused Secretary of State Adrian Fontes of violating federal laws concerning election security and cyber threats, and accused Senators Mark Kelly and Ruben Gallego of ignoring his calls regarding the cyber attack.
“Not one so-called ‘Senator’ even answered the phone,” stated Gillette. “Meanwhile, Arizona’s Secretary of State failed to report a suspected IRGC cyber attack targeting our election system.”
Election Security Failure – Fontes & China Kelly and Lil Ruben Must Be Held Accountable
I filed the CISA complaint. I filed the DHS/DOJ referral weeks ago. Calls documented. Not one so-called “Senator” even answered the phone. Meanwhile, Arizona’s Secretary of State failed to… https://t.co/huUk7UKyX5
— Rep. John Gillette AZ House LD30 (@AzRepGillette) August 23, 2025
Gillette cited federal statutes mandating reports of cyber threats to DHS and CISA.
Gillette confirmed that the secretary of state’s office became aware of odd occurrences within the online portal for political candidates on June 23, but didn’t shut down its portal until July 1. DHS maintained this timeline in a statement issued to the press.
Fontes said that while the office didn’t believe the hackers obtained personal voter information, they may have obtained personally identifying information associated with political candidates.
In a recent interview with Cyberscoop, Fontes said he declined to contact CISA about the hack because of President Donald Trump. Fontes also revealed that Arizona currently doesn’t have any federal cybersecurity advisors.
“Up until 2024, CISA was a strong and reliable partner in our shared mission of securing American digital infrastructure, but since then the agency has been politicized and weakened by the current administration,” said Fontes. “Given their recent conduct, and broader trends at the federal level, we’ve lost confidence in [CISA’s] capacity to collaborate in good faith or to prioritize national security over political theater.”
Last month, Fontes told 12News that he was concerned the cyber attack would be made into a partisan talking point by the Trump administration.
“I just can’t trust that this administration takes election security seriously, versus using it for political theater,” said Fontes. “We did not want this politicized so we figured we could take care of it, which we did very effectively and very quickly with other partners.”
Fontes’ office said they did contact other federal agencies, including the National Guard’s cybersecurity team.
However, DHS said in a response statement that they had provided assistance to the state over the cyber attack after the state requested help in June. DHS also reported CISA has been working with the state since then.
Senators Kelly and Gallego sent a letter to DHS last week asking for additional election cybersecurity support.
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The state candidate portal is not the “election system”. It is just the platform for the freak show platform to display the candidates. Otherwise, how bad the “system” can be made when it is flawed from the beginning.
Fontes hails from the little ol’ county of Santa Cruz. You know, the one that had the treasurer who stole $38 million from the local school districts. They literally are as thick as thieves down there. Go look at their local court cases and see local lawyers get DUI’s that magically disappear. Violent criminals are given free passes because they are related to local county chairs. At some point Santa Cruz county needs to be investigated federally.
Cyber attack last night? Large parts of NET were down – TV – but many websites and providers also down – as was TV ; Cyber attack ? I read nothing anywhere about this – was quite widespread
This guy is the biggest moron in the State. How does someone get elected who possesses 0 brain cells and absolutely no credibility! I’ll tell ya. FRAUD
FRAUD – and who’s the leader of the band? Recognizing FRAUD part 1 – fixing it part 2 – who, what, how, where, $ – is counter FRAUD warfare – which is not being waged in an effective manner.
How, with voters who have 0 brain cells.
Why is he not in prison? First he destroyed the integrity of voting in Maricopa County. Then hired by the Huckster in Pima County and rigged those and now on the State to rig all the elections.
Because the Establishment RINOs in AZ prefer to back him over Trump. It really is just that simple. They’d rather a D in power than any R other than them take over
Agree but you hardly ever learn of his numerous, and continued, shenanigans in other main stream publications so not everyone is informed. Thank god for the ADI but unless more people are made aware, this POS will probably get reelected!
Alex Kolodin is the answer.
Sounds to me like he was aware it was going to happen