Katie Hobbs Wins Reelection as Arizona Governor Over Andy Biggs, CBS News Projects

Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, is projected to win a second term after opening a wide lead over Republican U.S. Rep. Andy Biggs on Tuesday, Nov. 3. CBS News projected Hobbs the winner, and KTAR News reported that Decision Desk HQ made the same call.

Status: Projected for Katie Hobbs (D) by CBS News and Decision Desk HQ. Biggs had not conceded in the reports we reviewed. Counting continues, and official results come after county and state canvasses later this month.

The latest numbers

KTAR reported that Hobbs had 57.8% of the counted vote to Biggs’ 40.6% as of an 11 p.m. MST update, a lead of nearly 300,000 votes. CBS News showed a similar split, 57.8% to 40.7%, with about 71% of the expected vote counted at the time it published its projection.

Arizona typically counts for days after Election Day, so the margin may shift.

What Biggs said

Biggs spoke to supporters shortly before CBS News called the race and stopped short of conceding, Arizona’s Family reported. “We have been tracking the numbers that have been coming in, and they’re not real good for us right now. They’re pretty far behind,” he said. “The reality is, we’ve got a tough hill to climb. We just didn’t get our turnout quite as full as we wanted to.”

Hobbs had not spoken publicly by the time Arizona’s Family published its report.

Why the race drew wide attention

Hobbs won in 2022 by just 17,000 votes over Kari Lake, and her seat was seen as one of the toughest for Democrats to defend, CBS News reported. Trump won Arizona by five points in 2024 and campaigned in the state for Biggs.

Biggs, a former chair of the House Freedom Caucus who has represented a Mesa-area district for five terms, was among the members of Congress who challenged the 2020 election results on Jan. 6, 2021, according to CBS News. Hobbs was the secretary of state who ran Arizona’s 2020 election.

As governor, Hobbs has worked with a Republican-controlled Legislature and earned the nickname “veto queen” from Republicans. Arizona’s Family reported that she declined to debate Biggs and faced allegations of preferential treatment for a group home company that donated to her inauguration and the state Democratic Party; she has denied wrongdoing.

A first lieutenant governor

This was the first Arizona election with governor and lieutenant governor on a joint ticket, KTAR reported. Hobbs’ running mate, former Mesa Mayor John Giles, a former Republican who became an independent, is set to be the state’s first lieutenant governor. Biggs ran with former state lawmaker Sine Kerr. The new office replaces the secretary of state as first in line to succeed the governor.

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