Arizona voters held primaries Tuesday that produced a GOP nominee for governor and a GOP nominee in the competitive 1st Congressional District: Rep. Andy Biggs won the Republican primary for governor and will face Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs in November, and former NFL kicker Jay Feely won the GOP primary in the 1st District and will face the Democratic nominee in November.
Republicans narrowly outnumber independents and Democrats in the state, which went for President Trump in 2024 but elected a Democratic governor two years earlier, setting up Republican efforts to flip the governor's office and Democratic efforts to pick up House seats.
President Donald Trump carried the state by five points in 2024, and the state has in recent years elected Democrats to both U.S. Senate seats as well as the attorney general and secretary of state, putting it in tossup territory in statewide contests.
Four Republicans sought the GOP nod to face Hobbs, with Biggs and Rep. David Schweikert viewed as the leading contenders; Biggs, who carried President Trump's endorsement and backing from Turning Point Action, easily dealt with Schweikert and had already begun pivoting to the general election. Hobbs shifted her focus to Biggs, her campaign has amassed a significant warchest and started running ads, and Biggs has held onto more cash than his GOP rivals though he remains behind Hobbs. Biggs said, "I know how to reach across the aisle." Hobbs' campaign has repeatedly attacked him as "too extreme" and has dubbed him "basement Biggs," and he will still have to contend with many of his past stances including his role in trying to overturn the 2020 election.
In the 1st District, Feely cruised to victory over former state Rep. Joseph Chaplik after leaning on President Trump's endorsement. Feely said, "Who can call [Trump] and who can get him to answer? That's me." He initially announced a bid for Rep. Andy Biggs' seat in the 5th District but shifted to the 1st after President Trump backed former Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb. Former state GOP chair Gina Swoboda dropped her 1st District bid and instead ran for secretary of state. As a member of the National Republican Congressional Committee's MAGA Majority fundraising program, Feely is likely to be a top recipient of outside Republican spending going into November.
Republican Rep. Juan Ciscomani, first elected in 2022 and reelected in 2024 with 50% of the vote, was unopposed in the primary; Democrat JoAnna Mendoza was also unopposed and the two are set to meet in November. Arizona's top election official, Democrat Adrian Fontes, faced no primary challenge, while two Republicans — state Rep. Alexander Kolodin and Gina Swoboda — vied to challenge him. Biggs' decision to run for governor left his congressional seat open; former Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb, who has President Trump's backing, led early in the GOP contest but a multi-part Arizona Republic investigation published in May alleged years of sexual misconduct and abuse of power, which Lamb's campaign denied. Daniel Keenan has contributed $1.6 million of his own money and a GOP poll backed by his campaign recently showed him with a slim lead.
"I could see a Biggs-Hobbs matchup as a 'tight race,'" Francisco Pedraza said, citing Arizona State University research that found one in three Arizona voters are "not that confident" or "not at all confident" that absentee or mail-in ballots will be fairly counted and free of fraud.