Hobbs enters election year pitching affordability as Az Republicans promise competing vision

Affordability, water security and
education: Republicans and Democrats in Arizona state government can at
least agree that they aim to address these familiar issues in 2026.
These are the same issues that lawmakers and Gov. Katie Hobbs have
promised to address for the past few years. 

As the Republicans who control both
chambers of the state legislature, Hobbs, a Democrat, laid out their
plans for the year on Monday — the first day of a new legislative
session —  it was clear that their views of these issues and their plans
to address them were mostly disparate. 

That means Arizona is likely headed into another difficult year of divided government,
with Republican leaders refusing to consider proposals from Democrats
and Hobbs vetoing dozens of Republican bills that lack Democratic
support — conflict that will then bleed directly into the election later
this year, where Hobbs hopes to win reelection.

Hobbs’ state of the state speech, as
she enters her fourth and final year of her term as governor, received a
mostly tepid response from legislative Democrats, except for her
promise to increase accountability for the state’s private school
voucher program, which elicited loud cheers and a standing ovation. 

But Senate President Warren Petersen,
R-Gilbert, said during brief remarks on the floor of the Arizona House
of Representatives that his party would work to protect the Empowerment
Scholarship Account program, which provides public funding for K-12
students to attend private schools or to be home-schooled. 

“Those who come down here and try to eliminate school choice, that is not going to happen,” Petersen said. 

But Hobbs said the program needs more
oversight after the discovery last year that some parents were using
ESA funds to make luxury purchases unrelated to education, including
lingerie and appliances. 

Every year since she took office in
2023, Hobbs, along with Democrats in the legislature, have promised to
either pare down the ESA program or increase oversight. Republicans have
blocked any major changes to the voucher system, which they expanded to
serve all K-12 students in the state in 2022, alongside then-Gov. Doug
Ducey, a Republican. 

Legislative Republicans and Democrats
— as well as Hobbs — all promised to make life in Arizona more
affordable, and claimed that their party is the one that can make that
happen. 

House Democratic Leader Oscar De Los
Santos, of Laveen, said during a Monday press conference that increasing
costs were largely the fault of President Donald Trump’s tariffs. 

“Those tariffs are a betrayal of
working families and the middle class that has fueled economic chaos,
higher prices and job losses,” he said. 

De Los Santos said that Democrats
would fight to lower costs by taking on “greedy corporations,” who jack
up prices “because they can,” and out of state investors who buy up
Arizona real estate, contributing to high mortgage and rent costs. 

But Republican Sens. John Kavanagh,
of Fountain Hills, and T.J. Shope, of Coolidge, argued in a video posted
following Hobbs’ state of the state address that things have only
gotten worse for Arizonans since she took office. 

“After several years under this
administration, costs are higher, trust is lower and too many basic
problems remain unresolved,” Kavanagh said.

Kavanagh, the No. 2 Republican in the
Senate, and Shope said that Hobbs’ approach to public safety and the
Arizona-Mexico border were “out-of-touch” with the views of most
Arizonans. They especially pointed to her veto of a bill proposed by
Republicans last year that would make crossing the border without
permission a state crime. The veto forced them to send the “Secure Border Act” to voters in 2024 via referendum that easily passed. 

Hobbs, who has moderated her
messaging heading into the midterm elections, pointed to her work to
stop the flow of drugs over the southern border and contrasted it with
the Trump administration’s increasingly unpopular mass deportation
efforts. 

“While the federal government
neglects drug smuggling and human trafficking cases to chase deportation
quotas, Arizona is taking on the cartels,” Hobbs said. “While the
federal government uses law enforcement resources to score political
points in cities thousands of miles from the southern border, Arizona is
laser-focused on securing the border, getting drugs off the streets,
and cracking down on criminals poisoning our neighborhoods and our
children.”

Hobbs also mentioned her appreciation for small government and her love for freedom, including reproductive freedom. 

While Kavanagh and Shope accused
Hobbs of contributing to increased fuel and housing costs, the governor
said her budget will nix tax credits for data centers needed to run
artificial intelligence and to make those centers pay “their fair share”
for water. She also called for a $200 million tax cut for middle class
Americans, but pointedly told lawmakers she won’t sign off on cutting
taxes for the wealthy or corporations.

But Kavanagh and Shope said that
Hobbs’ plans would increase costs for Arizonans while the Republican
plan would put a proposal for tax cuts on her desk “in a matter of
days.” 

Both Hobbs and Republican legislative
leaders agreed that the state needs to fight this year in negotiations
with other states for its fair share of water from the Colorado River,
which supplies around 30% of the state’s water. 

There was no shortage of criticism
from Republicans for Hobbs’ state of the state speech, including from
U.S. Rep. Andy Biggs, who is running for the GOP nomination for
governor. 

“Her inability to lead this state
with strength has caused our economy to flail, while her petty vetoes on
public safety proposals, the grocery tax ban, and rural water plans
have prevented our state from reaching its full potential,” Biggs said
in a statement. “We heard more about new fees and shifting the blame
than any type of optimistic vision for the future of Arizona, which our
families and businesses desperately need.”

Businesswoman and lobbyist Karrin
Taylor Robson, who will fight with Biggs for the Republican nomination
for governor, criticized Hobbs’ effort to moderate her message ahead of
the midterms. 

“She lectured about safety after
cheering on Joe Biden’s open-border agenda,” Robson said in a statement.
“She read scripted lines about affordability while families pay more
for everything and bring home less. She attacked ESAs because they work
for parents, instead of focusing on improving public schools that are
failing too many kids. And she talked about our housing crisis after she
halted construction, created uncertainty for builders, and drove prices
even higher.”

House Democrats, on the other hand, praised Hobbs’ agenda. 

“Governor Hobbs is right to center
this session on building An Arizona We Can Afford,” De Los Santos said
in a statement. “House Democrats stand ready to deliver Governor Hobbs’
Arizona Affordability Fund to bring relief to families struggling with
high utility costs, and to end special corporate handouts for data
centers that are driving up electricity bills.”