How Attorney General Kris Mayes Trump-proofed Arizona’s monopoly-busting crusade

A nationwide pushback against corporate greed could end in January—but in Arizona, the crusade has only just begun.

Since taking office in 2022, Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes has built damning cases against landlord conglomerates for allegedly establishing rent monopolies, played wack-a-mole—with some success— shutting down foreign farms with a record of abusing Arizona’s groundwater laws, sued nursing home facilities for compromising quality of care for profit, worked with the Federal Trade Commission to stop the corporate consolidation of supermarkets, and put an end to dozens of ever-present online scams and telemarketing rackets that are known to defraud consumers of billions, if left unchecked.

“Inflation and protecting the pocketbooks of Arizona is something I have been working on since I became the Attorney General,” said Mayes. “The RealPage case that we filed, the antitrust case we filed against Amazon, these are all cases that go to the heart of protecting the pocketbooks of Arizonans and Americans.”

A trust-busting trend

Mayes has benefited greatly from a cooperative effort at the federal level, as FTC Chair Lina Khan has made similar efforts to block corporate consolidation and antitrust—or anticompetitive practices—of industries, which undermine a capitalist free market at the expense of the consumer. Mayes and Khan have worked together to halt a merger between Albertsons and Kroger, and Khan has mirrored Mayes’ efforts to stop landlord companies from banding together to raise rents, an anti-competitive practice that Mayes believes has led to a 30% rent increase in Arizona.

“Grateful to [Mayes] for her steadfast leadership and strong partnership in tackling illegal business tactics that inflate costs and take advantage of working families,” said Khan. “Be it when looking for housing, buying a car, or shopping for groceries.”

Mayes’ productive relationship with the FTC could soon change, however, once Donald Trump begins his second term as US President in January. Trump is expected to fire Kahn and replace her with someone more focused on corporate profits than consumer protections.

Who could replace Khan is unknown, but the president-elect’s current nominations offer a glimpse at how his administration will operate: far-right propagandist Pete Hegsath as Defense secretary, US Rep. Matt Gaetz as Attorney General, and Gov. Kristi Noem as Department of Homeland Security Secretary, among others.

Future of federal efforts uncertain

The incoming Trump administration is expected to close a number of investigations that began under Biden, including a number of criminal charges against Trump. A Justice Department run by Gaetz could end the antitrust lawsuit filed in August against RealPage for price-fixing rent, similar to one filed by Mayes six months prior.

Had Mayes entered into joint investigations with the Biden administration, those efforts could be seriously hampered—or ended entirely—if the feds were to drop the case. As a preventive measure, Mayes said her office purposely kept antitrust cases like Arizona v. RealPage at the state level to avoid this exact situation.

“One of the reasons that I have started to—shall we say, diversify our antitrust portfolio by filing some of these cases in state court is because we didn’t know for sure who was going to win the election,” Mayes said. “The FTC will do what the FTC is going to do, but we will continue to bring antitrust cases—with or without them.”

Mayes to Trump: Keep Khan

But Mayes says that Trump, who won reelection on wild promises to cut prices for household goods and make inflation disappear entirely, could benefit from allowing the FTC to continue its antitrust efforts. A successful case against RealPage would end the alleged rent price-fixing occurring throughout the country and, in turn, lead to reduced rents and lower housing costs.

Blocking the Kroger-Albertsons merger would also help Trump follow through on his claims to bring down the cost of groceries, as the combination of these supermarket behemoths is predicted to lead to price increases in regions where there are no other competing grocery stores.

“One thing that Donald Trump could do to prove that he really is pro-consumer is to keep Lina Khan on as the chair of the FTC,” said Mayes. “I certainly hope that the Trump administration maintains the FTC’s current focus on antitrust and fighting anti-consumer monopolistic behavior. There’s too much corporate consolidation in this country, whether it involves landlords, or nursing home facilities, or grocery stores. Corporate consolidation is a big reason that our consumers are getting screwed in this country, and the FTC needs to continue to stand up against it.”