As Arizona has started trending to the right, one prominent businesswoman has announced that she will be running for governor in the 2026 election against Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs (D).
On February 12, Arizona businesswoman Karrin Taylor Robson announced that she would be challenging Hobbs, declaring that she is ready to “answer President Trump’s call.” This will be her second time running for Arizona governor, as she ran in the 2022 Republican primary but lost to Kari Lake by 40,000 votes.
Robson released a video on social media to announce her decision, where she highlighted previous remarks from President Donald Trump back in December, when he stated that Robson would have his support if she chose to run for governor of Arizona.
“I am running for Governor so we can defeat radical Katie Hobbs, support President @realDonaldTrump, lock down the border, and create jobs for Arizona,” Robson wrote in the X post.
I’m in.
I am running for Governor so we can defeat radical Katie Hobbs, support President @realDonaldTrump, lock down the border, and create jobs for Arizona.
President Trump has endorsed me, and I hope you will join him and support our campaign today: https://t.co/FIEfx82FIk pic.twitter.com/072jCm3S0m
— Karrin Taylor Robson for AZ Gov (@KTaylorRobson) February 12, 2025
There is only one other candidate running in the GOP primary for Arizona governor — Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ), who officially entered the race in late January, announcing his decision at the Arizona Republican Party’s annual meeting.
Both candidates have made border security the center of their campaigns, as Arizona’s 370-mile-long border with Mexico has been a hotbed for illegal immigration and crime.
In Robson’s ad, the narrator states: “President Trump is back in the White House, and he means business. Arizona needs a strong governor who will help President Trump lock down our border.”
Arizona’s current governor is radical leftist Katie Hobbs, who has repeatedly expressed her support for open borders and her opposition to Trump’s plans for mass deportations — declaring in November that she would “not tolerate efforts that are part of misguided policies that harm our communities, that threaten our communities, that terrorize our communities, and Arizona will not take part in those.”
JUST IN: Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs bumbles through interview, says she will not let the Trump administration deport illegal aliens in Arizona.
She sounds like a Valley Girl.
"That's not going to happen on my watch."
"We will not be participating in misguided efforts that… pic.twitter.com/1VgXWszo6k
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) November 18, 2024
Meanwhile, Robson also criticized Hobbs for her failed leadership on crime and the economy, arguing that the Democrat governor “has made it harder to live, work, and raise a family safely in this state.”
“Like President Trump, I know how to create jobs,” the businesswoman added. “And like President Trump, I will not rest until our border is secure and Arizona families are safe.”
Republicans have the potential to flip Arizona back to red in the next election, according to many GOP analysts, as Trump beat former Vice President Kamala Harris in Arizona by five percentage points in the 2024 election.
