Arizona’s Democratic Governor Set to Pick a Republican Running Mate

The New York Times ^ | 8-4-26 | Sejal GovindaraoKellen Browning and Reis Thebault

[AirForceVet1988]

Gov. Katie Hobbs of Arizona, a vulnerable Democrat running for re-election, plans to tap a longtime Republican and former mayor of a Phoenix suburb to serve as her running mate, according to two people familiar with the decision.

John Giles, a former mayor of Mesa, Ariz., is expected to be announced in the coming days as Ms. Hobbs’s lieutenant governor nominee. Neither Ms. Hobbs nor her campaign would confirm the choice, and nothing is final until an announcement.

But the apparent pick is a nod to bipartisanship in a campaign that will pit Ms. Hobbs, a low-key Democrat, against Representative Andy Biggs, a fiercely partisan Republican with President Trump’s endorsement.

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TOPICS: Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: Arizona
KEYWORDS: hobbs; katie; mate; running

[AirForceVet1988]

They say that picking a moderate from the other party is a good tactic, but will it play in November ? I guess we'll find out.

[HombreSecreto]

Hmmm. Wonder what that former mayor has to hide or has axe to grind?

[princess leah]

Katie Hobbs would never have been go ‘r if she wasn’t in on th ballot fraud as sec of state back in 2022! She’s not just incompetent but also a major fraud

[Libloather]

Arizona voters will choose state’s first lieutenant governor in 2026

https://www.axios.com/local/phoenix/2026/03/03/arizona-first-lieutenant-governor-running-mates-biggs-hobbs-schweikert

[clearcarbon]

"Arizona’s Democratic Governor Set to Pick a Republican Running Mate"

Another slight-of-hand move from cheaty hobbs.

[FreedomPoster]

“Republican”

Or at least so I assume. More Uniparty GOPE I expect. Not MAGA.

Tell me if my assumption is wrong.

[Blue Highway]

You know this is some compromised RINO to even be willing to be tied to this fraudster. Would be funny if this guy exposes her and sabotaged this campaign but this weasel wants power any way shape or form or just how Democrats do it.

[FLT-bird]

Lemme guess, this guy was part of the dying McCain machine?

[martinidon]

The ex Mesa mayor is a RINO. He supports illegal aliens and has supported dem causes his last year in office.

[4Runner]

Uniparty.

[roving]

If there is no cheating, she will lose.

[sauropod]

“Low-key Democrat” my rear end. Does the Slimes think we’re stupid? That we haven’t paid attention the past few years?

Hobbs needs to go.

[Ann Archy]

Katie Hobbs is STUPID AND EVIL!!

[Spktyr]

This will provide cover for cheating. “Well, we go5 more votes because we have a bipartisan ticket and it’s not supporting that racist Trump.”

[sphinx]

This sounds like classic wedge issues politics to me. I don’t have a sense of Biggs. If he’s running mainly on his Trump endorsement and the size of the Trump tattoo on his butt, he’s lashed himself to a highly polarizing lightning rod, and that will make a lot of more moderate Republican voters potentially reachable.

Where is Biggs on the issues? The Republican Party is not just a Trump personality cult. Trump is right on some issues, wrong on some others, and wildly inconsistent on most issues. On the issues, most of the Republican Party is to the right of Trump.

[Theodore R.]

Anyone who would run with Hobbs is most assuredly “not a Republican,” maybe not even a RINO.