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President Donald Trump has scored another major primary victory after Andy Biggs snagged the Republican nomination for Arizona governor on Tuesday.
Biggs defeated fellow Congressman David Schweikert in a closely watched contest that exposed the continuing battle over the future direction of the Republican Party.
He will now move to the general election to take on Governor Katie Hobbs.
The victory reinforces Trump's grip on the GOP base and positions Biggs as the Republican standard-bearer heading into a high-stakes general election campaign in one of America's most fiercely contested political battlegrounds.
A longtime conservative activist and chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, Biggs campaigned on a platform focused on border security, lower taxes, election integrity and a more aggressive conservative approach to state government.
His victory represents another major primary win for a Trump-backed candidate during the 2026 election cycle. According to Ballotpedia's running tally, 220 of Trump's 227 endorsed candidates have won their primaries or advanced — a success rate of roughly 97 percent.
Schweikert, a longtime congressman, argued during the primary that Republicans needed a broader appeal to independent and suburban voters.
But Biggs' strong connection to Trump's movement and his appeal to the party's conservative base ultimately proved decisive.
Hobbs has criticized Biggs over his positions on election-related issues, accusing him of promoting what she calls 'election conspiracy theories' and portraying him as an 'election denier.'
At a 2021 House Oversight hearing, Congressman Jamie Raskin asked Biggs directly who won Arizona.
Biggs replied, 'We don't know. There are a lot of issues with this election that took place.'
Hobbs' campaign has argued that Arizona voters want confidence in election outcomes rather than continued disputes over the 2020 presidential election.
She has also accused Biggs of prioritizing 'hyperpartisan politics' over governing and delivering results for Arizona, framing the upcoming election as a choice between political confrontation and a focus on state issues.
Biggs has remained a prominent figure in debates over election security.
He objected to counting Arizona's Electoral College votes on January 6, 2021, arguing that unresolved concerns about election procedures meant Congress had a role in reviewing those issues.
He has continued to call for increased scrutiny of election systems, saying voters need confidence that every vote is counted.
But is Trump’s backing enough to win over all of Arizona's voters?
Kari Lake, backed by Trump in her 2022 run for governor, narrowly lost to Democrat Hobbs and refused to accept the result, launching a series of legal challenges and repeatedly alleging election fraud and irregularities.
Her challenges were rejected by the courts, which found she had not shown evidence that fraud or election problems changed the outcome.
Lake then suffered another setback in 2024, losing her U.S. Senate race in Arizona — even as Trump won the state’s presidential vote.
For critics, the defeats underscore a difficult political reality: a message focused heavily on election denial and relitigating past losses may energize parts of the Republican base but can struggle to win over the broader electorate.
At the same time, Hobbs is an incumbent stuck in the low 40s in polling, which means a well-run Republican campaign could have a shot at ousting the incumbent this fall.
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