Overview
- Multiple outlets reported Wednesday that Gov. Katie Hobbs plans to pick John Giles, who served as Mesa mayor from 2014 to 2025, as her lieutenant governor running mate and neither Hobbs nor Giles has publicly confirmed the decision.
- Giles has a recent record of backing Democratic presidential and Senate candidates, including speaking at the 2024 Democratic National Convention and endorsing Democrats in 2020 and 2022, while reportedly shifting toward no party affiliation this year.
- The reported selection is time-sensitive because a Friday deadline would be needed for the Arizona Secretary of State to update ballots for the first election in which governor and lieutenant governor run together on a single ticket.
- The Biggs campaign quickly criticized the report after Rep. Andy Biggs named Sine Kerr as his running mate and after Biggs secured President Donald Trump’s endorsement, framing the Hobbs–Giles pairing as politically calculated.
- Analysts and Hobbs allies say the move is aimed at winning moderate Republican and independent voters in the East Valley, and outside groups including the Democratic Governors Association have already committed major resources to defend Hobbs’s reelection bid.