Arizona’s governor’s race is shaping up as a fight over what the Republican Party should look like, not just who should run the state. Monica Villalobos, a lifelong Republican and prominent Phoenix business leader, is backing Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs, while former Republican Gov. Doug Ducey has endorsed GOP nominee Andy Biggs.
Villalobos, president and CEO of the Arizona Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, is among more than 50 business and community leaders supporting Hobbs through the Arizona Over Party coalition, according to ABC15. She said voters should study the candidates and make their own decisions instead of treating party affiliation as a shortcut. “I did not leave the Republican Party,” Villalobos said, adding that she believes the party “left me” by embracing what she described as chaos and hostility.
Villalobos also said her decision involved thinking about the example she wants to set for her two teenage sons. Her endorsement gives Hobbs a prominent Republican voice in a state where the Democratic incumbent will need support beyond her party’s base.
Hobbs Builds A Coalition Beyond Democratic Circles
The Hobbs campaign has been turning that argument into an organized political brand. In a June announcement, the Katie Hobbs campaign highlighted former Republican Mesa Mayor John Giles’ endorsement and framed the coalition as an effort to put Arizona ahead of partisan loyalty.
That strategy reflects the state’s unusual voter math. The Arizona Secretary of State lists Republicans at 35.39% of registered voters, Democrats at 28.11% and the “Other” category at 34.60%, a broad grouping that includes voters outside the two major parties. In practical terms, Hobbs cannot rely on Democratic registration alone, while Biggs must persuade voters who may not share the party’s most combative instincts.
Ducey’s Biggs Endorsement Sharpens The Party Contrast
Ducey’s endorsement of Biggs came shortly after Hobbs appeared with Villalobos and other coalition supporters, ABC15 reported. The former governor said his public-service career centered on freedom and free enterprise and urged his former supporters to back the full Republican ticket, including congressional and legislative candidates.
Biggs senior adviser Drew Sexton used the endorsement to attack Hobbs’ cross-party coalition, pointing to former Arizona House Majority Whip Chris Herstam as one of its members. Herstam drew backlash in 2020 after saying Ducey and state lawmakers should be shot over a dispute involving all-mail voting during the COVID-19 pandemic, then apologized two days later.
Biggs, a former House Freedom Caucus chairman and close ally of President Donald Trump, won the Republican nomination on July 21 and will face Hobbs in the November 3 general election, according to the Associated Press. The primary victory gave Republicans a nominee with strong support from the party’s right flank, while Hobbs is now trying to assemble a broader coalition that includes moderate Republicans, business leaders and unaffiliated voters.
For Hobbs, the endorsements are a way to argue that a second term is about governing rather than party identity. For Biggs, Ducey’s support offers a direct rebuttal: The Republican establishment is not abandoning the nominee, even as some longtime Republicans say they are abandoning the direction of the party.
The November contest will show whether those endorsements move enough voters to matter or simply provide fresh ammunition for each campaign’s preferred story about Arizona. Either way, the state’s unusually large pool of voters outside the two major parties makes the Republican crossfire impossible to ignore.
