(The Center Square) – Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs announced Wednesday she’s running for reelection in a border state race that’s likely to focus heavily on immigration.
“I’m running to serve you for four more years because there’s more work to do,” the Democrat said in a video posted on her campaign website, katiehobbs.org.
Hobbs’ announcement follows those by a growing number of Republicans. President Donald Trump has endorsed two of them: Freedom Caucus member U.S. Rep. Andy Biggs and Karrin Taylor Robson, who lost in the 2024 U.S. Senate primary to Republican Kari Lake, who then lost to U.S. Rep. Ruben Gallego, a Democrat who’s now serving the first year of his first term in the Senate.
On Sept. 30, a third Republican announced he was running for governor: U.S. Rep. David Schweikert of Phoenix.
In her video Wednesday, Hobbs cited her accomplishments including getting tough on the border with Mexico, but Republicans later pointed to her vetoes of immigration bills and legislation to increase penalties against fentanyl dealers.
But Hobbs noted Arizona seized over 12 million fentanyl pills after she ordered the Arizona National Guard to fight drug and human trafficking at the border with Mexico following failed policies in Washington, D.C.
Hobbs added she stood up to other Democrats to make sure Arizona got its share of Colorado River water. The video also noted she terminated a lease to a foreign corporation that was pumping Arizona’s groundwater.
Hobbs also talked during her video about turning a $1.4 billion state deficit into a balanced budget.
“Over the last three years, we cut taxes for middle-class families, small businesses and veterans,” said the Arizona native, who grew up in Tempe.
“We lowered childcare costs, so working parents aren’t saddled with yet another expense,” said Hobbs, who earned her bachelor’s and master’s in social work at Northern Arizona University and Arizona State University
Set to pleasant music and showcasing Hobbs in various settings, the video featured Arizonans praising the governor.
But members of the Republican Governors Association made it clear they’re not fans in a statement emailed Wednesday to The Center Square.
“Over the past three years Katie Hobbs has proven she’s in over her head and out of touch with everyday Arizonans,” said Courtney Alexander, the association’s communications director. “She vetoed legislation to crack down on fentanyl dealers, opposed the Secure the Border Act, and even supported taxes on groceries at a time when families can least afford it.
“Meanwhile, state government has been plagued by mismanagement under her watch, and Arizona has fallen in key economic rankings,” Alexander said. “If Katie Hobbs worked in the private sector, she’d have been fired long ago.”
The Republicans’ statement noted Hobbs vetoed a bill to increase penalties against fentanyl dealers, defunded the Arizona Border Strike Force and vetoed the AZ ICE Act, which would have increased cooperation with local law enforcement and federal immigration enforcement.
As previously reported by The Center Square, GOP leaders criticized Hobbs’ veto of Senate Bill 1610, which would have required county jails, on the request of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, provide identifying information and access to illegal immigrants arrested for burglary, theft, larceny, shoplifting, aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer or any other offense that results in death or serious injury to another person.
Hobbs said in her veto message that she objected to the legislation because of the burdens it puts on local law enforcement.
The governor also vetoed House Bill 2099, which would have required the governor, the attorney general, and every county, city and town to enforce and cooperate with immigration orders, actions and programs from the federal government.
Hobbs said Arizona wouldn’t take its “marching orders from Washington, D.C.,” but the Republican Governors Association accused her of being “just another Open-Borders politician.”
Republicans hold majorities in both the Arizona House and Senate but lack enough seats to override the Democratic governor’s vetoes.
While disagreeing on immigration, Hobbs and Republican legislative leaders did manage to compromise this year on the state’s $17.6 billion budget, but only after resistance from the House and an extension of the session. The Legislature passed it with just days left to keep the government running.
