SCOTTSDALE — Arizona voters will pick their first-ever lieutenant governor in four weeks. On Monday night, only two of the four candidates showed up to make their case.
Republican Sine Kerr, a former state senator and running mate of gubernatorial nominee Andy Biggs, debated No Labels Party candidate Angela Harrolle Mohan, ABC15 and KTAR News reported. The pair found some common ground, but split on taxes, water and data centers.
The empty lecterns
Former Mesa Mayor John Giles, the Republican-turned-independent who is Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs’ running mate, declined to participate, KTAR reported, and Green Party candidate Lisa Castillo did not respond to the invitation. Kerr used much of her time attacking Hobbs’ record rather than her opponent on stage. “It’s an absolute disgrace that Governor Hobbs and John Giles will not participate in this debate,” Kerr said in her closing, according to KTAR.
Hobbs campaign manager Nicole DeMont said in a statement that Kerr “shared a stage with a field of long-shot candidates for a job she will never hold,” and that Hobbs and Giles would keep meeting voters directly, KTAR reported. Hobbs, who also skipped debates in 2022, told reporters Monday that “face-to-face interactions with Arizonans are more effective” than a debate stage, according to ABC15.
Water
Kerr, a West Valley dairy farmer turned beef rancher, accused Hobbs of doing a disservice by suggesting Arizona is running out of water, ABC15 reported. She pointed to groundwater, brackish water and the Verde River as supplies beyond the Colorado River and backed Biggs’ proposed $19 billion federal water infrastructure bill.
Harrolle Mohan, a former federal special agent who has never held elected office, said she also supports water augmentation but urged more urgency, pointing to Nevada’s aggressive water recycling. “It’s not a sexy thing that people like to say, but it’s called toilet to tap,” she said, according to ABC15.
The debate came days after a multistate agreement on sharing the Colorado River expired Sept. 30 without a new deal, leaving Arizona facing the deepest cuts under new federal operating rules.
Data centers and the job itself
Harrolle Mohan backed a temporary moratorium on new large-scale data center applications, while Kerr said data centers should get no state subsidies and must supply their own water and power, KTAR reported.
Both candidates said the office’s core job is succession, and neither committed to a specific portfolio. Voters created the post with Proposition 131 in 2022. The lieutenant governor will be first in line if the governor leaves office, replacing the secretary of state, a setup that in 2009 handed the governorship from Democrat Janet Napolitano to Republican Jan Brewer.
What’s next
In the governor’s race, Republican Andy Biggs, No Labels nominee Teri Hourihan and Green Party candidate Risa Lombardo are scheduled to debate tonight, Tuesday, at 6 p.m. Gov. Katie Hobbs declined to take part. Early voting and mail ballots begin Wednesday, and the general election is Nov. 3.
Photo: Taylor Arrazola via Wikimedia Commons (public domain). The copper dome and Winged Victory statue atop the Arizona Capitol Museum in Phoenix, December 2011.
This article was produced with AI assistance and is based on reporting from ABC15 and KTAR News.