Arizona Governor Race 2026: Hobbs vs. Biggs

Gov. Katie Hobbs (D), who narrowly won her first term in 2022, faces Rep. Andy Biggs (R), a five-term congressman; Green and No Labels nominees are also on the ballot. Biggs is running on affordability, the border, and water: he calls Hobbs an open borders advocate for defunding a state border strike force, and, in Colorado River talks, wants to tap Arizona's groundwater stores rather than rely mainly on conservation, and criticizes her record 541 vetoes. His platform pledges to eliminate the state income tax, protect Empowerment Scholarship Accounts, and create a "Make Arizona Healthy Again" advisory council; in debate he said he would fund the tax cut partly by rooting out about $3 billion a year in Medicaid fraud. He also backs a referendum to ban foreign contributions in Arizona elections. Hobbs frames the race as steady leadership putting Arizona first against Washington-style division, and her ads have stressed her record on border security, law enforcement, and public safety.

Hobbs skipped the October 6 debate run by the Clean Elections Commission, saying face-to-face interactions with voters work better than a stage built for political theater; Biggs, who debated the No Labels nominee instead, called her absence "disqualifying." The air war has turned personal: Hobbs's campaign has run ads branding Biggs a "predator protector" over the Epstein files and over a bill, stalled while Biggs was Senate president, that targeted Warren Jeffs's hold on the Colorado City marshal's office, and Biggs has answered with an ad saying she vetoed bills aimed at "predators and pornographers." Hobbs is pressing Biggs on Medicaid: as a state senator in 2011 he tried to abolish Arizona's Medicaid program, and he voted for the 2025 federal budget law expected to drop a few hundred thousand Arizonans from it. HighGround's Chuck Coughlin, releasing a mid-October survey with Hobbs up 17, said 25 to 30 percent of Republicans were not backing their party's candidates; the Biggs campaign questioned the poll because Coughlin's company works for a firm funding pro-Hobbs ads. Arizona's narrow margins keep it a battleground, but Hobbs holds a clear edge in polls and markets.