You know it’s a nasty election year when Republicans are attacking fellow Republicans even if it means ceding a legislative seat to a Democrat.

Cue the latest drama in north Phoenix’s Legislative District 28, where Republican House candidate Kathy Petsas is under attack by an independent campaign group working to re-elect Republican Rep. Maria Syms.

Syms, a one-term legislator, is probably best known for her op-ed earlier this year, in which she warned the RedforEd teacher walkout was part of a socialist plot.

Syms and Petsas have been feuding since last spring when the more moderate Petsas had the nerve to announce she was running in this swing district.

It seems Syms planned to be the lone Republican running for one of the two House seats, a “single shot” strategy designed to improve her odds of winning in a district that usually sends one Republican and one Democrat to the House.

How dare that Kathy Petsas run

Then along comes Petsas, who, this being a free country and all, decided to run as well.

That didn't go over well. Petsas, after all, is more moderate than Syms and thus could pose more of a danger to Syms’ re-election chances than to the district’s other representative, Democratic Rep. Kelli Butler.

In response, Syms’ husband, Mark, announced in mid-May that he would run as an independent against Republican Sen. Kate Brophy McGee, who supports Petsas. The move would have virtually assured the Senate seat would flip to Democrat Christine Porter Marsh.

But the Syms’ retaliation plan fizzled when a judge tossed Mark Syms off the ballot, finding more than 900 forged signatures on his nominating petitions.

Now his wife’s conservative Republican supporters are attacking not the Democrats in the House race – Butler and Aaron Lieberman – but Syms' fellow Republican, Petsas.

The New Times’ Ray Stern reports that American Strong, a North Hollywood-based political-action committee, launched a radio and internet ad campaign attacking Petsas two weeks ago. It also set up a since-removed website, BewareKathyPetsas.com, urging voters to support Syms, the “only conservative” in the race.

"Do NOT Waste a Conservative Vote on Kathy Pappas Petsas," according to the website, as reported by Stern.

Parsons didn't know his cash helped

Better, apparently – from a certain Republican perspective anyway – to let that second seat go to Democrats than to vote for both Syms and Petsas.

If the strategy seems curious to you, know that it's downright embarrassing to the Republicans who actually funded the $25,000 hit pieces. Stern reports that GoDaddy founder Bob Parsons and former GoDaddy executive Christine Jones donated to American Strong to support Syms – not to help Democrats by trashing Petsas.

Petsas told me that Parsons has called her – twice – to apologize since learning that his money was used to attack her and that he and his wife have donated $10,200 to her campaign, the maximum allowed, to try to mitigate the damage.

Syms didn't return a call to talk about her single-shot strategy or the attacks on Petsas made on her behalf. It would have been illegal for Syms to coordinate with that independent campaign.

But Petsas slammed Syms for not condemning the ads and for her own campaign mailers lumping her fellow Republican nominee in with Democrats.

“It's been two weeks and not once has Syms ever said it was out of line,” said Petsas, the only candidate in the race who was endorsed by Gov. Doug Ducey. “There is the opportunity to elect two Republicans in the race. To have one of them aggressively go after a single-shot campaign, it’s not very respectful of the election process or even the party.”

Not respectful but fairly smart – if your goal is not to help Republicans but to help yourself.

Reach Roberts at laurie.roberts@arizonarepublic.com.

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