Andy Biggs wins Republican primary for Arizona governor, setting up race against Katie Hobbs

Arizona voters on Tuesday chose their nominees for governor, Congress and other top offices, setting up a fall campaign that will test whether Republicans can reverse some of the Trump-era losses they suffered in a premier battleground state.

Andy Biggs, the hard-right congressman endorsed by Donald Trump, easily won the Republican nomination to challenge the incumbent Democrat, governor Katie Hobbs, in one of the most closely watched gubernatorial contests. Biggs, a former chair of the House freedom caucus who was a central figure in the effort to overturn Trump’s election loss in 2020, defeated fellow congressman David Schweikert, by appealing to the party’s deeply conservative base.

Throughout the campaign, Biggs and Schweikert offered constrasting visions for reclaiming the governorship. Schweikert, who gave up his toss-up congressional seat to run for governor after eight terms, argued that Biggs’ hard-right politics and unswerving embrace of the president had allowed Democrats to make gains in once-ruby-red Arizona.

Andy Biggs, who is running in the Arizona governor primary, speaks at a campaign event on 17 July. Photograph: Ross D Franklin/AP

But Republican voters in Arizona, as they have across the country, followed the president’s lead, even though Trump’s candidates have repeatedly fallen short in the state’s most competitive general election contests.

Businessmen Ken Miceli and Scott Neely were also vying for the nomination. Hobbs, who flipped the seat from red to blue in 2022, ran unopposed.

Arizona has transformed in recent years from a Republican stronghold into a competitive swing state, fueled by rapid population growth, shifting suburban voting patterns around Phoenix and an influx of college-educated voters.

In the decade since Trump’s election in 2016, Democrats have gained control of the top three statewide offices – governor, attorney general and secretary of state – as well as both US Senate seats. Trump narrowly carried Arizona in 2024 after losing the state four years earlier – a defeat he unsuccessfully sought to overturn.

This year, Republicans are contending with unfavorable national political conditions. Historically, the president’s party loses ground in the midterm elections, and Democrats are hopeful they can seize control of the House – and possibly the Senate, riding a wave of discontent over high gas prices and an unpopular Iran war that have dragged down Trump’s approval ratings. Two toss-up House districts in Arizona are key to that effort.

Arizona governor Katie Hobbs looks on as she speaks to press during the opening of Copper State Victory’s first coordinated Democratic campaign office in Tucson, Arizona on 12 July. Photograph: Rebecca Noble/Reuters

Arizona’s first congressional district, which Schweikert vacated to run for governor, has long been a Democratic target as the suburbs shifted away from the Republican party over the past decade. Two years ago, Schweikert won re-election with just under 52% of the vote.

Seeking the Republican nomination for the seat, anchored in affluent Scottsdale, were Joseph Chaplik, a former state lawmaker, Jay Feely, a former Arizona Cardinals kicker, and John Trobough, a technology and telecommunications executive.

The Democratic primary for the seat included former state lawmaker Amish Shah, who received 48% of the vote against Schweikert as the party’s nominee in 2024. He faced former local news anchor Marlene Galán-Woods, who earned the controversial backing of the Democratic congressional campaign committee. She is the widow of former Republican attorney general Grant Woods, who publicly broke with his party over Trump.

In the sixth congressional district, which extends from the suburbs of Tucson to the US-Mexico border, encompassing much of south-eastern Arizona, Democrats hope national headwinds facing the president’s party will dislodge Republican congressman Juan Ciscomani, who is seeking a third term. Democrat JoAnna Mendoza, a Marine Corps veteran, was running unopposed.

Tuesday’s primary also settled tight contests in legislative races across Arizona, where Republicans hold slim majorities in both chambers of the state capitol.