By Howard Fischer
Capitol Media Services
PHOENIX -- The unsuccessful Republican candidate for treasurer is suing the defeated GOP contender for schools chief over what he says are lies told to others during the campaign about his sex life.
Elijah Norton claims in legal papers filed in Maricopa County Superior Court that Kimberly Yee spread claims that he tried to bribe her, had a boyfriend who wore women's clothes, had a sexual affair with a married male personal assistant and threatened her with physical harm. None of that, Norton said, is true.
But Norton wants more than a finding by a court that he was defamed. He also wants more than $2.6 million.
Norton told Capitol Media Services that's the amount he spent in a contested Republican primary where he faced off against Katherine Haley. And Yee has acknowledged that she recruited Haley to enter the race.
There was no immediate response from Yee.
According to the lawsuit, the dispute between Norton and Yee goes back to 2023 when he was treasurer of the Arizona Republican Party and when he said he was contemplating a run for treasurer, a position then held by Yee.
Norton said Yee sought -- and he provided -- more than $100,000 to a "victory fund'' that he thought was going to help all GOP candidates. As it turned out, he said, it was for her own political organization.
He formally announced his bid for treasurer in April 2025. And that, the lawsuit says, was when Yee started "publicizing lies about Norton's personal and professional dealings'' to find a Republican to challenge him in the primary.
Norton also said that Yee claimed to others that Norton had tried to bribe her.
But much of the lawsuit is based on statements that Yee is accused of making to several people claiming that Norton has a "boyfriend'' who wears female clothes. And Norton said others associated with Yee and in the Haley campaign made similar comments as well as accused him of having a sexual affair with a married personal aide.
And the lawsuit also says that Yee, speaking to a Republican precinct official, falsely told that person that Norton "threatened to harm me physically.''
All of this, the lawsuit says, are false and "publicly placed Norton in a false light'' in a manner that would be "highly offensive'' to someone like Norton running for statewide office.
The lawsuit also includes the claim that the actions by Yee were done "with the subjective knowledge that it was false or with a reckless disregard for its truth or falsity.''
That part of the claim is legally significant.
In general, ordinary citizens can sue for defamation by showing that a statement made by someone else was false.
But the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that public officials also must show that a statement was made with "actual malice,'' essentially that those who made the statement knew it was false or acted with a reckless disregard to whether or not it was truthful. And that standard also governs those who are candidates for public office.
Only if a plaintiff can make that case does the issue become one of financial damages.
Norton told Capitol Media Services that he was considered a shoo-in among Republicans to be the party's candidate for treasurer this year, what with Yee, having served two terms, unable to run for reelection.
"Everyone knew that I had the resources to be competitive in a general election, that I had the skills, the financial background,'' he said.
"And they also appreciated the fact that I had given a lot of time and treasure to the party over the years,'' Norton said. "So there pretty much wasn't going to be a challenger until Kimberly started to interfere.''
And that, he said, forms the basis for his financial claim.
"Had Kimberly Yee not spread these lies and convinced Katherine Haley to run, there would have been no primary,'' Norton said.
"Therefore, I would not have had to spend the money that I needed to spend to get my name and my message out to primary voters,'' he continued. "And, therefore, I could have used that money toward my general election,'' Norton said, or to help other Republicans win their own races.
All totaled, Norton reported just before the general election he had spent more than $4.1 million on both the primary and general elections.
Whether that money would have made any difference is far from clear.
Like all the Republicans running for statewide office this year, Norton was defeated, with Democrat Nick Mansour who had collected only about $1.5 million picking up close to 54% of the vote.
And Yee, hoping to become state school superintendent, also lost her bid to remain an elected official, picking up less than 47% of the vote in her bid against Democrat Teresa Leyba Ruiz.
Norton is no stranger to filing defamation claims.
In 2022, after losing his bid to become the Republican nominee for Congress, he sued incumbent Rep. David Schweikert and political allies over what Norton said were negative attacks during the campaign, including suggesting that he was gay. That case eventually was settled out of court.
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