Gov. Katie Hobbs, one of the most vulnerable Democratic incumbents in the 2026 election year, held on to Arizona’s highest office for another four years, The Associated Press said, solidifying Democratic leadership of the swing state heading into the 2028 presidential election.
Ms. Hobbs, a moderate, defeated Representative Andy Biggs, an ally of President Trump’s who had the backing of Turning Point USA, the conservative organization founded by Charlie Kirk. Her victory represents the latest rebuke of far-right Republicans in Arizona, and it was the first time in two decades that a Democratic governor won re-election in the state.
Ms. Hobbs campaigned for the support of independents, who make up Arizona’s largest share of registered voters, and moderate Republicans. She even tapped a former Republican, John Giles, the former mayor of the city of Mesa, as her running mate.
Ms. Hobbs campaigned on affordability and protection of the drought-stricken state’s water. Though her refusal to debate Mr. Biggs earned her derision, the decision was validated by her victory.
In 2022, Ms. Hobbs barely edged out a far-right firebrand, Kari Lake, who lost in a U.S. Senate bid two years later. Mr. Biggs tried to make the case that he was a more electable Republican, but Democrats framed him otherwise, slamming his efforts to overturn the 2020 election and claiming that he turned a blind eye to child abuse by a Mormon splinter group more than a decade ago as president of the State Senate.
Turning Point PAC Arizona, a political arm of Turning Point USA, dumped nearly $20 million in support of Mr. Biggs’s campaign this year, but he was still outspent by Ms. Hobbs.
For Democrats hoping to retake the White House in 2028, Ms. Hobbs’s presence in the governor’s office will come as a relief. The state has been a hotbed of election deniers since Joseph R. Biden Jr. narrowly won it in 2020, and Democrats feared Mr. Biggs would empower those who still claim wrongly that Mr. Trump has won the state three times.
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