Trump-backed candidates prevail in Arizona primaries as Hobbs faces Biggs

Andy Biggs won the Republican nomination for Arizona governor after defeating Rep. David Schweikert and other Republicans, setting up a November race against Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs. Biggs, a Trump-backed lawmaker who voted to overturn the 2020 election results, emerged from a crowded primary that showed how strongly Donald Trump still shaped the party’s choices in Arizona.

The result turned the governor’s contest into a sharper test of electability in one of the country’s tightest swing states. Hobbs has been described as the most endangered gubernatorial incumbent this cycle, and Republicans are trying to take back the Grand Canyon State’s executive branch after Democrats won the governorship and now hold both U.S. Senate seats.

Arizona’s margins explain why the primary mattered beyond party labels. The 2020 presidential election in the state was decided by fewer than 11,000 votes, a result that helped make Arizona a flashpoint for false claims that the election was stolen. That history leaves little room for error in a general election that will hinge on suburban independents, Republican turnout, and whether Trump-aligned candidates can broaden their appeal beyond the primary electorate.

The same pattern showed up in Arizona’s 8th Congressional District, where Abe Hamadeh won the Republican primary in a crowded race even after Trump had also endorsed his top rival. The victory reinforced how decisively Trump’s blessing continued to move Republican primaries in the state, even when the field included multiple contenders with similar conservative credentials.

Those contests now feed into a broader national map. Arizona has traditionally been heavily Republican, and six of its nine House members are Republicans, but the state’s top offices are split between parties. That makes Arizona one of the most important battlegrounds for control of the House and for the presidential race, with Republican hopes for a comeback now tied to nominees who are closely identified with Trump and election-denial politics.