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Rep. Andy Biggs has won the Republican primary in Arizona’s race for governor, NBC News projects, setting up a battleground state matchup this fall with Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs.
Biggs, a former chair of the conservative House Freedom Caucus who was endorsed by President Donald Trump, emerged from a primary field that included fellow Rep. David Schweikert and businessmen Scott Neely and Ken Miceli.
Biggs, who has represented a district outside Phoenix for five terms and held a consistent lead in the polls leading up to the primary, continually leaned into Trump’s backing in his campaign, while also highlighting his support for border security and lowering taxes.
But the Trump dynamic could play differently in the general election in Arizona, one of five states Trump won in 2024 where a Democratic-controlled governorship is on the ballot in 2026.
Democrats have found success in Arizona, once a traditional Republican stronghold, running against Trump-aligned candidates in recent cycles. In addition to a Democratic governor, Arizona is currently represented by two Democratic U.S. senators, and the party controls the secretary of state and attorney general offices.
In the final stretch of the primary, Biggs sought to cast himself as someone who has worked across the political aisle in Congress, an apparent effort to appeal to the state’s huge chunk of independent voters. More than one-third of the state’s voters are not registered with either major political party.
“I may be conservative, but I’ve also shown that even when you’re conservative, if you look to collaborate, you can find points and ways to collaborate with even people who fundamentally disagree with you on other things,” Biggs told USA Today on Sunday.
Biggs had long questioned the legitimacy of Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election. But in his recent USA Today interview, he dodged questions about that outcome, saying, “I’m not going to be critical against Republicans, and we have a lot of people with a lot of diverse viewpoints.” He added that Republicans will win “by looking forward and having a vision for the state.”
Meanwhile, Hobbs, who won her 2022 election by less than 1 percentage point, ran unopposed in Tuesday’s Democratic primary. With the national political environment expected to favor Democrats, the nonpartisan Cook Political Report with Amy Walter earlier this month shifted its rating of the Arizona governor’s race from “toss-up” to “lean Democrat.”
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
