PHOENIX — Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs won a second term Tuesday, defeating Republican U.S. Rep. Andy Biggs in a race many had seen as one of the toughest for any Democratic governor in the country.
The Associated Press declared Hobbs the winner early Wednesday, KTAR News reported. CBS News also projected her victory, according to Arizona’s Family.
“Arizona, thank you for trusting me to serve you for four more years,” Hobbs posted on X Wednesday morning, inviting supporters to celebrate and “hear what comes next.”
Biggs, a Trump-endorsed congressman, spoke to supporters before the race was called and stopped short of conceding. “We have been tracking the numbers that have been coming in, and they’re not real good for us right now,” he said, according to Arizona’s Family. “We just didn’t get our turnout quite as full as we wanted to.”
Hobbs went unchallenged in the Democratic primary, led in the polls, outraised Biggs and declined to debate him, Arizona’s Family reported. She courted disaffected Republicans and independents and picked former Mesa Mayor John Giles, a former Republican, as her running mate, according to KTAR.
Giles will become Arizona’s first lieutenant governor. The newly created office replaces the secretary of state as the governor’s temporary successor.
Her campaign faced questions over allegations that she gave preferential treatment to a group home company that donated more than half a million dollars to her inauguration and the state Democratic Party. Hobbs has denied wrongdoing.
Hobbs first won in 2022, defeating Kari Lake to become Arizona’s first Democratic governor since Janet Napolitano’s 2006 reelection. She remains one of the few Democratic governors in a state President Donald Trump carried in 2024.
Sources: KTAR News, Arizona’s Family. Thee Arizona Times uses AI-assisted reporting reviewed against the sources listed.
Photo: Unknown / Public domain via Wikimedia Commons.
