Ex-lawmaker ended election bid days after injuring wife

Three days before former Arizona lawmaker Noel Campbell said he was quitting his campaign for state Senate to protect his wife, police were investigating him for running her over with his car and driving away.

Campbell, 80, told his wife he was going to the Las Fuentes Assisted Living facility in Prescott on May 6 to visit a friend. While he was there, she showed up on her motorcycle and they got into an argument, according to incident and crash reports obtained through Arizona’s public records law.

While she stood on the passenger side of Campbell’s Chevrolet Volt, talking to him through a partially open window, Campbell began backing up, the reports state. Video shows the woman, dressed in motorcycle apparel, holding onto the window and walking with the car as it pulled forward and drove toward the exit. Witnesses also saw her walking with the car until it turned a corner in the lot.

That’s when a facility resident sitting on her second-floor balcony heard a woman “screaming for help” and saw someone lying on the ground. She ran down the stairs and asked what happened. The injured woman said her husband ran her over, reports state.

Police believe the rear wheel of the car “drove up and over” her right elbow and thigh. She was taken to a hospital with an injured arm and leg.

Campbell nor his wife returned a phone message about the incident.

Campbell entered the state Senate race last year in his Prescott-area district despite a documented domestic violence incident with his wife in December 2020. He previously served in the Legislature from 2015 until 2021.

In the 2020 case, Campbell’s wife accused him of pushing her to the ground and striking her in the head and neck. When asked about the accusation by The Republic last month, Campbell said he apologized to her.

His wife also told The Republic that the public shouldn’t judge Campbell by the incident, saying the family was under stress. She had declined to assist with the investigation, and Campbell was never charged.

This year, Campbell continued to prepare for a competitive GOP primary battle against former secretary of state and lawmaker Ken Bennett and political newcomer and former California lawyer Steve Zipperman. But on Monday, he announced he was leaving the race because of “smears and attacks” on his wife and family.

“Unfortunately, in this campaign, in order to beat me, less ethical people have turned their attacks on (my wife) and our marriage,” Campbell wrote in the announcement.

He made no mention of the new investigation.