Republican Arizona State Sen. Warren Petersen struggled to make it through a debate against Democratic Attorney General Kris Mayes, drawing a wave of ridicule on X, according to Arizona Public Media. The race is for the state's top legal job: the attorney general acts as Arizona's chief legal officer, responsible for enforcing state law and representing the state in court, and Mayes has held the office since 2023.

"Couldn't have shown up LESS prepared to debate tonight," said Kelsie Taggart, a vice president at American Bridge, a Democratic opposition research group, who posted a supercut of Petersen struggling to speak and looking down at his notes.

At one point, Mayes quipped, "It's too bad that Warren can't do anything but read off of your sheet there. But, ya know, we'll go ahead and respond."

In clip after clip, Petersen appeared to be sorting through a stack of papers on the podium. Televised debates offer voters one of the few side-by-side looks at the candidates, and moments from them now routinely circulate as short clips on X in real time.

"Someone did absolutely no debate prep," wrote former Jeopardy! champion Hemant Mehta.

Republican Gabby Biggs tried to make excuses, arguing that Petersen was clearly more prepared: "How are you less prepared when you bring notes? That's what a good AG does. We need an AG who shows up prepared rather than Mayes, who makes up lies on the spot."

The defense did not go over well. Former MSNBC host Keith Olbermann replied, "He re-read some of his notes aloud, twice each."

"Let me explain it this way," began voice actor Jayden Libran. "If you were giving a job interview to an applicant who was constantly fumbling with their notes, would you view them as prepared and ready to be hired on the spot?"

One user quipped, "I'm not sure of my position on school shootings let me check my notes I've printed out here."

Deputy Attorney General of Arizona Dan Barr even noticed, "He was pretty bad at reading his script as well."

"One of them had the knowledge and one of them couldn't speak without reading from a script. This isn't hard. He may as well have been any yahoo pulled off the street," replied another.

PR strategist Stacey Champion quipped, "He got his a—— handed to him by #LawyerForThePeople AZ AG @krismayes! His new hair plugs seem to be holding though, so at least he's got that."

At one point, the camera caught Petersen sticking out his tongue to lick his lips, but it just sort of lingered there. Taggart posted a screen capture of the moment, writing, "Between constantly shuffling his papers and whatever this was... the choice for #AZAg couldn't be clearer."

A conservative commentator who has complained that Trump isn't a true conservative indicated that it was clear Petersen "got crushed."

Another user mocked Petersen as if he were giving an elementary school book report: "My book report on 'Wuthering Heights' by Emily Bontë: Wuthering Heights was written by Emily Brontë. It is a book about heights that are wuthering."

Petersen's campaign put out a clip of him reading a statement from the papers in front of him. Republican followers cheered him on, but others quickly replied with Taggart's supercut, asking, "This you?"

The race will be decided by Arizona voters in November's general election.