PHOENIX — The two major candidates for Arizona governor agree there’s a clear distinction between them. And both blame the other for the state’s affordability crisis.
Gov. Katie Hobbs told Democratic volunteers in Scottsdale on Friday that a lot is at stake in the Nov. 3 election.
“I've spent my career fighting for working families, families trying to afford a home, put food on the table, build a better life,” she said. “And Andy Biggs has spent his career fighting for the well-connected and the special interests who leave everyday Arizonans behind.”
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Hobbs pointed to U.S. Rep. Andy Biggs’ support for President Donald Trump’s economic agenda.
"He supports the tariffs that's made groceries more expensive,” she told ABC15. “He supports the war in Iran that's making gas more expensive.”
Hobbs said she’s fought to lower costs for things such as utilities, childcare and housing.
"I don't know who he's fighting for, and I just think the contrast is so clear,” Hobbs said.
Biggs agrees the state has an affordability crisis. But he told ABC15 news partner KTAR News on Monday that he blames Hobbs.
“Somehow, as affordability goes, we've dropped from one of the most affordable to one of the least affordable,” he said during "The Mike Broomhead Show."
The cost of housing is a major factor, but a lack of new construction in the years since the Great Recession is responsible, according to data from the Common Sense Institute. And home prices skyrocketed in the two years after the pandemic – before Hobbs took office in 2023.
Biggs, who has proposed eliminating the state’s income tax, supports slashing taxes like the cuts in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
The Legislature put Arizona versions of those cuts in the new state budget, the first state to fully conform with the federal changes. Hobbs, who signed the budget last month, has cheered the cuts for individuals, such as the larger standard deduction and additional deductions for seniors, tipped income and overtime, despite vetoing full tax-conformity legislation three times this year.
“You have to point out where she's deceiving the people right now,” Biggs said on KTAR. “I mean, no tax on tips. She vetoed it three times.”
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