A recent campaign ad from the Democrat incumbent governor cost her millions, but critics and past reporting indicate the ad is misleading and takes credit for work done by Republicans.
Gov. Katie Hobbs’ 30-second “Work” ad released last month claimed that she reduced electricity bills, cut red tape to build more affordable housing, and balanced the budget. Critics across the political spectrum assessed these claims as misleading.
Utility rates have increased by more than 25% under the Hobbs administration.
The Arizona Free Enterprise Club calculated based on Energy Information Administration data that utility rates in Arizona have increased by an average of 27% under Hobbs’ tenure. The Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) sets rates.
The largest donor to Hobbs’ controversial inaugural fund, Arizona Public Service, also wants to increase the utility rates by 14%. That ratemaking case is ongoing with the ACC.
The Hobbs administration imposed more red tape on housing construction that had the effect of imposing a housing moratorium. A court struck down that red tape earlier this year as an unlawful overreach in agency rulemaking, a ruling which has the potential to put Arizona taxpayers on the hook for over $1 billion in compensation claims.
One developer duo, Buckeye Tartesso I and II, already filed such a claim last September with the help of the Goldwater Institute. The duo is seeking over $320 million in compensation for lost value, an amount their demand letter claimed was a compilation of conservative, not maximum, estimates.
Budget talks were repeatedly called off and subjected to a bill moratorium by Hobbs as she tried to impose what Republican lawmakers characterized as unrealistic revenue assumptions, hidden tax increases, and cost-raising policies.
In the thick of budget talks earlier this year, House Speaker Steve Montenegro (R-LD29) commented that Hobbs’ budgeting style was reminiscent of the more liberal-style budgets coming out of California: fiscal approaches which increase government size and create inconsistencies within the tax system. Hobbs held out on securing tax conformity for months to align the Arizona tax code with many of the congressional changes passed under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act
Hobbs has been accused by bipartisan critics of turning her inheritance of a $2.5 billion surplus from former governor Doug Ducey into a $1.6 billion shortfall.
Last summer, a report by the Common Sense Institute Arizona found that state spending outpaced the $3.3 billion in revenues that emerged following the passage of the flat tax in 2023.
Per the Hobbs campaign, the ad buys required millions from her campaign coffers.
Additionally, the Hobbs campaign press release implied that the Spanish-speaking version of her “Work” ad, “No Se Rinde” (“Doesn’t Give Up”), was uniform in its messaging. However, the ads contained key differences that indicated an awareness of Arizona’s split demographics.
Both opened with a characterization of Hobbs’ background as a mother who worked multiple jobs and as a social worker, but differed distinctly in their portrayals of Hobbs’ approach to governance.
The English-speaking ad, “Work,” depicted Hobbs as a budget and policy expert with key wins in electricity bill and red tape cuts, and school lunch and community college scholarship expansions.
The English ad described Hobbs as working fast food and Uber jobs to make ends meet. It included the misleading claims that Hobbs was responsible for balancing the budget without raising taxes, reducing electricity bills, and cutting affordable housing red tape, along with the valid claims that she expanded school lunches and community college scholarships.
The Spanish version of the ad, “No Se Rinde,” depicted Hobbs as a social worker with key wins in medical debt forgiveness, medical cost cuts, and salary boosts. Hobbs forgave $30 million in medical debts early on in her administration.
The Spanish-speaking ad similarly characterized Hobbs as having a background as a working mother, but only highlighted her past Uber driving work and expanded on her time as a social worker as mainly aiding female domestic violence victims. The ad further diverged in describing Hobbs as responsible for canceling tens of millions in medical debt, reducing medical costs with discounts up to 80 percent, and raising salaries.
A Centers for Disease Control report published in 2024 suggested that Latino and Hispanic women have a disproportionately higher risk of experiencing domestic violence: one in three, indicating an occurrence average up to three times higher than white women.
Close to a quarter of all Latinos in Arizona are uninsured, as are nearly half of all illegal aliens, according to a 2022 research analysis from the Latino Policy & Politics Institute. Approximately 80% of Latino families in Arizona reported financial trouble according to recent polling by UnidosUS; nearly half of Latinos across Arizona, California, and Texas reported medical debt in a 2024 UnidosUS poll.
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Republican gubernatorial candidate and U.S. Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ05) says Arizona’s affordability crisis cannot be solved by housing policy alone, arguing that water management, utility costs, state trust lands, natural resource development, and election integrity all require a new approach under the state’s next governor.
In an exclusive interview with AZ Free News, Biggs outlined what he described as the core priorities of a potential administration, saying Arizona’s long-term prosperity depends on responsible resource management while restoring confidence in state government.
“The affordability of housing” is the state’s biggest economic challenge, Biggs said.
“It gets attention, but it doesn’t encompass everything that’s related to it,” he continued. “The water issue is massive, and it goes hand in glove with housing.”
Biggs argued that utility costs, water availability, and management of Arizona’s natural resources all contribute to the state’s affordability challenges.
“But the one aspect to this all that’s not being addressed in this administration… is how do you manage the state’s natural resources, including state trust land?” Biggs said. “That is going to be critical going forward on affordability issues in the state and viability of long-term economic success.”
For Biggs, water policy remains central to that vision. Biggs said Arizona must play a far more active role in negotiations over the future of the Colorado River rather than allowing federal agencies to dictate the outcome.
“You have to be engaged,” Biggs said.
He said he has met with officials from the United States Bureau of Reclamation, the United States Department of the Interior, the United States Department of Agriculture, the United States Department of Commerce, and the United States Department of Defense, arguing Arizona’s water allocation should reflect the state’s importance to national food production, semiconductor manufacturing, commerce, and defense.
“I’m encouraging all of them… to redo the environmental impact statement so it actually considers the national food security issue… the national defense sector… and the microchips and the industry,” Biggs said.
He also credited bipartisan work with Democrat Rep. Greg Stanton (AZ-04) to secure additional conservation funding for Lower Basin states and said Arizona’s advocacy helped encourage releases from Flaming Gorge Reservoir to stabilize Lake Powell.
Biggs also called for expanded forest thinning, continued livestock grazing, removal of invasive salt cedar, and responsible development of Arizona’s mineral resources.
“We have 26 of the critical minerals necessary in this state,” Biggs said. “You’ve got to figure out a way to use that and allow for extraction and development in a very rational and sane way.”
Addressing another growing issue, Biggs said he supports data center development but opposes taxpayer incentives.
“I sat down with multiple brokers for data centers and said, ‘Look, here’s the deal. No special breaks. No special benefits,'” Biggs said.
Instead, he said developers should finance their own electrical generation and water infrastructure without reducing resources available to existing residential or commercial customers. “We’re going to allow you guys to develop your power… provided that you do not encroach on current and future commercial and residential users.”
A policy report released by the Goldwater Institute in February warned that Arizona’s growing role as a national hub for data centers could be undermined by municipal regulations driven by concerns over water use, electricity demand, and land use.
On elections, Biggs said restoring public confidence would be among his first priorities if elected governor.
He pointed to Gov. Katie Hobbs’ veto of a Florida-style election integrity bill earlier this year and pledged to sign similar legislation if elected.
“One of the first bills I will sign is that Florida-style election integrity bill in January of 2027,” Biggs said.
Asked about the legal dispute between the Maricopa County Recorder’s Office and the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors over election administration, Biggs declined to side with either party but said he has spoken with both.
“I think both sides truly want us to have a fair, transparent election,” Biggs said. “They need to get this thing sorted out quickly.”
Biggs said he believes Arizona can become “the leader on election integrity” by the end of a potential administration.
The congressman is facing fellow Congressman David Schweikert (R-AZ01), business owner Ken Miceli, and entrepreneur Scott Neely for the Republican gubernatorial nomination in the primary and has centered much of his campaign on affordability, border security, government reform, and economic growth.
Arizona taxpayers can’t catch a break from their local governments. From water rates and utility bills to property taxes and sales taxes, city councils have spent the last several months approving one increase after another. No matter the justification, the result is always the same: higher costs for the people paying the bills.
Here are some of the top offenders of the last couple of months:
Florence
In the Town of Florence, the town council approved a multi-year water and wastewater rate hike plan that starts with roughly 6–8% increases but compounds over several years into what many residents estimate will amount to around a 64% increase in total utility costs. At a time when families are already struggling with affordability, approving rate hikes of that magnitude is a serious burden on Florence residents. With increases that steep, one would think they’re trying to compete with Gilbert (100%+ increase over 3 years). The increases will start on July 1st, just in time for summer, so get your pocketbooks ready, Florence residents.
Tempe
Tempe has their own slew of problems that deserves an article of its own, self-imposed by mismanagement, obviously. The Tempe City Council recently voted on sending a 0.5% sales tax increase to the ballot for voters in November. This will tax all non-grocery food and is said to give 0.3% to public safety, 0.1% to transit such as light rail and buses and 0.1% to Tempe PRE, a city run free preschool.
As usual, local leaders are putting all blame on the legislature. One Tempe councilmember said, “Let me remind you what we set out to do with this initially: to address a … deficit that was created not by us but by the Arizona Legislature and the federal government.”
Meanwhile, this is occurring while the council has decided on things like a $2 million “Mill Ave” sign. Just plain, silver metal. Nothing special or aesthetic and $2 million is going towards this thing? Right, and it’s the legislature’s fault that they are in a budget deficit of about $24 million. It’s almost as if they didn’t spend your tax dollars on stupid things, they wouldn’t need to keep raising taxes…
Proximity to the people does not prevent abuse of power. In fact, it often does the opposite. Municipal governments enact restrictive policies just as easily as state or federal governments and often with less scrutiny.
There is a myth in America that the closer government is to the people, the more checks exist and the better the governance. By that logic, local governments, city and town councils, being closest to the people, must be the least corrupt and most responsive. Because of this, municipalities and their proponents constantly argue that they should be free to govern their communities without interference, or as it’s often framed, maintain “local control.”
The local control argument might seem intuitive, however, does shifting power from one level of government to another actually protect individual freedom? The burden on the people is the same, if not more, whether bad policy comes in the form of higher taxes, increased fees, restrictive regulations, or costly utility rate hikes from federal, state, or local government.
In Gilbert, residents have been outraged by astronomical water bills and rate increases, decisions made not in Washington, D.C. or in Phoenix, but by their own local government. Proximity did not protect them; it made the impact more immediate. Gilbert is not the only town with unceasing increased costs, municipalities across Arizona are raising taxes, fees, and rates (good thing there is a resolution moving through the legislature to alleviate this)…
It’s not an accident that the top issue talked about by politicians these days is affordability. Over the last 5 years the cost of pretty much everything has gone through the roof, largely caused by the trillions in reckless spending by Joe Biden and the Democrats in Washington.
Taming inflation must remain our top economic priority, and the good news is that Arizona Republicans are taking meaningful steps to bring costs down. After adopting a 2.5% flat income tax under Governor Doug Ducey in 2022, state lawmakers have fought to slash grocery taxes, residential rental taxes and eliminate regulations that are driving up the cost of energy and housing.
Yet while the Republican controlled legislature is doing everything it can to make sure hardworking taxpayers get to keep more of their hard-earned dollars, municipalities throughout Arizona are passing an avalanche of tax and fee increases that are costing taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars every year…
