Katie Hobbs | |
|---|---|
 Hobbs in 2025 | |
| 24thGovernor of Arizona | |
| Assumed office January 2, 2023 | |
| Preceded by | Doug Ducey |
| 21stSecretary of State of Arizona | |
| In office January 7, 2019 – January 2, 2023 | |
| Governor | Doug Ducey |
| Preceded by | Michele Reagan |
| Succeeded by | Adrian Fontes |
| Minority Leader of theArizona Senate | |
| In office January 5, 2015 – January 7, 2019 | |
| Preceded by | Anna Tovar |
| Succeeded by | David Bradley |
| Member of theArizona Senate from the24th district | |
| In office January 7, 2013 – January 7, 2019 | |
| Preceded by | Don Shooter |
| Succeeded by | Lela Alston |
| Member of theArizona House of Representatives from the15th district | |
| In office January 10, 2011 – January 7, 2013 | |
| Preceded by | David Lujan Kyrsten Sinema |
| Succeeded by | John Allen (redistricted) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Kathleen Marie Hobbs (1969-12-28)December 28, 1969 (age 56) Phoenix, Arizona, U.S. |
| Party | Democratic |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 2 |
| Education | Northern Arizona University (BSW) Arizona State University (MSW) |
| Signature |  |
| Website | Office website Campaign website |
Kathleen Marie Hobbs (born December 28, 1969)[1][2] is an American politician serving since 2023 as the 24thgovernor of Arizona. A member of theDemocratic Party, she served from 2019 to 2023 asArizona's Secretary of State and from 2011 to 2019 as a member of theArizona Legislature.
Born and raised inArizona, Hobbs holds degrees insocial work fromNorthern Arizona University andArizona State University. Hobbs was elected to theArizona House of Representatives in 2010 and to theArizona Senate in 2012. She served as Senate minority leader from 2015 to 2019 and was elected secretary of state of Arizona in2018.
Hobbs won the2022 Arizona gubernatorial election, narrowly defeating Republican nomineeKari Lake.[3][4]
Hobbs was born inPhoenix, Arizona.[5] She has a twin sister, Becky.[6] A first-generation Arizonan, Hobbs was raised inTempe in a middle-class family that sometimes relied onfood stamps.[7] She went to Catholic schools throughout her childhood and graduated fromSeton Catholic High School in 1988.[8]
Hobbs attended Northern Arizona University, where she received abachelor's degree in social work in 1992. She later attended Arizona State University, where she received amaster's degree in social work in 1995.[9]
Hobbs worked as a social worker.[10]
Hobbs was the chief compliance officer for Sojourner Center, one of the nation's largest domestic violence centers.[11] She is an adjunct faculty member of social work atParadise Valley Community College and Arizona State University.[12]
Hobbs is affiliated with theNational Association of Social Workers professional organization.[citation needed]
Before seeking elected office, Hobbs participated in political leadership programs in multiple organizations, including Valley Leadership, Emerge Arizona, and theCenter for Progressive Leadership.[13] She was a delegate forHillary Clinton at the2008 Democratic National Convention.[14]
Hobbs served on the Phoenix Women's Commission and the Phoenix Human Services Commission.[15]
Hobbs was the executive director of Emerge Arizona from 2013 to 2019.[16] Hobbs credited her interest in politics to her involvement with Emerge Arizona.[17]
Hobbs was elected to theArizona House of Representatives in 2010. She represented the15th legislative district alongsideLela Alston.[18]
Hobbs served one term in the House of Representatives and ran for state senate in 2012.
Hobbs was elected to theArizona Senate in 2012 and reelected in 2014 and 2016.[19] She represented the24th legislative district. She originally did not want to run for state senate but did so due toredistricting.[20] Hobbs becameminority leader in 2015 and served two terms in that position.[21]
In 2015, during her first term as minority leader, Senate staffer Talonya Adams, a Black woman, complained to Hobbs about her concerns about racial and gender-based discrimination and was later fired in part by Hobbs.[22] In November 2021, Adams won adiscrimination lawsuit related to her firing and was awarded a judgment of $2.75 million.[23]
Hobbs did not run for another term in the State Senate, deciding to run for Secretary of State. She was succeeded by Alston.
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On March 8, 2017, Hobbs announced her candidacy forArizona secretary of state.[24] In the2018 election, she faced Republican nominee Steve Gaynor. On November 6, 2018, theAssociated Press prematurely called the race for Gaynor.[25][26] With the race as close as it was, neither Hobbs nor Gaynor initially claimed victory.[27][28] In subsequent days, Gaynor's lead narrowed as more ballots were counted. On November 16, Hobbs was officially declared the winner by a margin of 20,000 votes.[29][30] She was the first Democrat to hold the post sinceRichard Mahoney left office in 1995.[30]
Hobbs was sworn in as secretary of state on January 7, 2019. Because Arizona has no lieutenant governor, Hobbs stood first in the line of succession to GovernorDoug Ducey.[31]
In 2021, the Arizona Senate Republicans provided $150,000 to fund an audit aimed at contesting the2020 presidential election results inMaricopa County. In a six-page letter, Hobbs wrote that the audit's chain of custody was lacking, calling it "a significant departure from standard best practices".[32] She added that the audit procedures appeared "better suited for chasing conspiracy theories than as a part of a professional audit".[32] In response, Hobbs received death threats, and the Arizona Department of Public Safety assigned personnel to guard her and her staff.[33]
Hobbs's complaints were echoed in a letter to State Senate PresidentKaren Fann from theMaricopa County Board of Supervisors, which had a 4-1 Republican majority. Fann, referring to one ofDonald Trump'sclaims of election fraud, contended that the county had deleted an entire database. The board of supervisors responded in a letter calling the accusations "false, defamatory, and beneath the dignity of the Senate". It accused the Arizona Senate of "conspiracy theories that fuel the fundraising schemes of those pulling your strings".[34][35][36] Fann responded that the audit would continue when theArizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum site was next available.[37]
After consulting with theDepartment of Homeland Security and theElection Assistance Commission, Hobbs said she was told that it was impossible to know whether the voting machines the county turned over in response to the Senate subpoena had been compromised and thatDominion Voting Systems should recertify them for future use.[38] While the Arizona Senate's contractor was in possession of the machines that had been subpoenaed, the county spent over $20,000 to lease other machines to conduct two local elections, and the costs of recertifying the surrendered machines after their return would be in the six-figure range; however, the Senate signed an agreement with the county that said the county is not liable for any damages to the equipment while in the Senate's custody, so it is unclear whether the county would be liable for the costs.[38]
The audit was conducted by Florida-based company Cyber Ninjas, which had no previous experience in election audits and had not been certified by the federal government to conduct election audits.[39] Cyber Ninjas' owner, Doug Logan, supported Trump and promoted Trump's claims of election fraud.[40] The auditors released a report in September 2021, finding no proof of fraud and that their ballot recount increased Biden's margin of victory by 360 votes.[41][42]
On June 2, 2021, Hobbs announced her candidacy forgovernor of Arizona in the2022 election to succeed term-limited Republican incumbentDoug Ducey.[43][44][45]
Hobbs ran against formerCustoms and Border Protection chief of staffMarco Lopez and former state representativeAaron Lieberman in the Democratic primary. Despite declining to debate her opponents, she won the Democratic nomination with 72.3% of the vote.[46][47]
Hobbs faced the Republican nominee, formerKSAZ-TV news anchorKari Lake, in the general election. Hobbs limited access to reporters, sometimes going out of her way to avoid them, and held small-scale campaign events.[48][49] She declined to debate Lake, saying she wanted to deny Lake the opportunity to spreadelection denialism.[50][51] Hobbs narrowly defeated Lake with 50.3% of the vote.[52][53] After the election, Lake refused to concede, and assembled a legal team to contest the election results.[54][55][56] In March 2023, theArizona Supreme Court declined to hear Lake's lawsuit concerning the election,[57] and in May reaffirmed its decision after a trial.[58][59]
Hobbs was sworn in on January 2, 2023, in a private ceremony, followed by a public ceremony on January 5.[60] Upon taking office, she became Arizona's fifth female governor, a record forU.S. states.[61][62] In December 2022, she selected Allie Bones, the Arizona assistant secretary of state, as her chief of staff.[63][64] Bones resigned on May 25, 2023, and was replaced byChad Campbell, the former minority leader of the Arizona House of Representatives, on May 31.[65][66][67]
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Since taking office, Hobbs has issued numerous executive orders, including those prohibiting state agencies and all new state contracts or subcontracts from discrimination based on traits of sexual orientation,gender identity,[68] and hair texture and protective styles.[69][self-published source] Hobbs has established several commissions, including an independent prison oversight commission;[70] a commission on homelessness and housing that was abolished in 2020; a bipartisan elections task force;[71] and a task force onMissing and Murdered Indigenous Women.[72]
In June 2024,Arizona Attorney GeneralKris Mayes, a Democrat, opened an investigation into Hobbs after a group home business whose CEO was on her inaugural committee donated $400,000 to her campaign through adark money group.[73][74] The firm received nearly a 60% rate increase for providingfoster care services, making it Arizona's highest-paid provider per day per child.[73] A spokesman for Hobbs blamed partisan politics for the investigation.[73][74]
On May 2, 2024, Hobbs signed a bill to repeal a near-total abortion ban from 1864 that the Arizona Supreme Court reinstated on April 9, 2024.[75] The ban was not enforced byArizona Attorney GeneralKris Mayes, and the repeal took effect on September 14, 2024.[76] As a result of2024 Arizona Proposition 139, the Arizona constitution codifies abortion's legality up tofetal viability.[77]
An opponent ofcapital punishment, Hobbs voted for an unsuccessful bill in the state legislature to repeal Arizona's death penalty, and posted onX, "both heinous crimes and the death penalty demean us as a society". As governor, Hobbs has said that her opinion of the death penalty is "irrelevant", and in December 2024, she said she was "not going to talk about" her views on the death penalty, saying that the death penalty is the law in Arizona and that she "is going to follow the law".[78][79][80][81] When Hobbs took office, shehalted executions and was ordered to appear alongside Ryan Thornell, Arizona's prison director, in Maricopa County Superior Court, over her refusal to carry out an execution warrant issued by the Arizona Supreme Court.[82] On January 20, 2023, she ordered a review of the state's death penalty protocols, and hired retired magistrate Judge David Duncan to carry out the review.[83] Arizona conservatives criticized Hobbs for not cooperating with the court-ordered execution ofAaron Brian Gunches in 2023.[84] After Thornell completed an internal review, Hobbs reversed her executive order that effectively halted executions by ending the review she commissioned Duncan to complete and firing Duncan; shortly thereafter, Attorney GeneralKris Mayes requested an execution date for Gunches, who was executed on March 19, 2025. This was the first execution conducted in a state with a Democratic governor in office sinceVirginia executedWilliam Morva under GovernorTerry McAuliffe in 2017.[85] On October 17, 2025,Richard Djerf became the second person executed in Arizona during Hobbs's governorship, and the first to have exhausted his appellate rights (Gunches waived most of his appeals).[86]
In May 2023, theRussian government added Hobbs to a list of people permanently banned from entering Russia.[87][88] The banning came after the Biden administration imposed further sanctions on Russia; others banned from entering Russia include U.S. RepresentativeEli Crane andArizona State University presidentMichael M. Crow.[88]
In her January 9State of the State address, Hobbs proposed expanding the Arizona Promise Scholarship Program to make it available for undocumented immigrant students to attend state universities and colleges.[89]
In May 2023, ahead of the repeal ofTitle 42, Hobbs announced that the state would establish five new bus routes to transport migrants from small border communities toTucson.[90] On December 17, 2023, Hobbs issued an executive order ordering theArizona National Guard to the border with Mexico to help federal officials manage an influx of migrants.[91]
In March 2024, Hobbs vetoed bipartisan legislation to increase Arizona's housing supply.[92][93][94] The bill would have reduced red tape around housing construction by preventing Arizona municipalities from requiring homeowners' associations, minimum home sizes, and certain building setbacks.[92] She said the bill was "a step too far" and had "unclear outcomes".[92] The legislation's sponsors criticized Hobbs for not offering any guidance on the legislation when it was being negotiated, as they could have adjusted the bill's language to make it more in line with her preferences.[92]
In March 2024, Hobbs announced that Arizona would use $30 million of federal COVID-19 relief funds to forgive Arizonans' medical debts. Using the funds from the 2021American Rescue Plan Act, Arizona will task the RIP Medical Debt organization to buy medical debt held by hospitals and collection agencies. An RIP Medical Debt board member said that up to $2 billion of debt could be forgiven.[95]
On April 18, 2023, her 100th day in office, Hobbs set a new record for the most vetoes issued by an Arizona governor in a single legislative session, with 63 vetoes of bills passed by the Republican-majority legislature. The previous record was set by former governorJanet Napolitano, who vetoed 58 total bills in the 2005 session.[96]
Three of the bills vetoed on April 18 passed with a bipartisan supermajority in both the Arizona House and the Arizona Senate.[97] One of them, concerned withcottage foods and colloquially known as the "tamale bill", became a topic of national conversation after multiple Democratic legislators voiced their opposition to the veto. The bill would have allowed home cooks to sell perishable foods.[98] Although the bill passed with a bipartisan supermajority, a vote to override the veto in the Arizona House of Representatives failed, with only five Democrats voting to override.[99][100] The other two bills Hobbs vetoed that passed with supermajorities, SB1091 and SB1101, have not been brought forward to an override vote. On May 19, Hobbs vetoed 14 bills passed by the state house and senate, surpassing 100 vetoes in only five months; among them was HB2377, which would have restricted officials from being registered lobbyists while holding public office.[101]
Hobbs is married to Patrick Goodman, whom she met at church in 1992 and married in 1996.[14] Goodman is a child therapist atPhoenix Children's Hospital.[102] They have two children and live in Phoenix.[103][104][9]
Hobbs is Catholic.[105] She is atriathlete and has been an avidcyclist since high school.[14][106]
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| Arizona Senate | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of theArizona Senate from the 24th district 2013–2019 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minority Leader of theArizona Senate 2015–2019 | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Secretary of State of Arizona 2019–2023 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Governor of Arizona 2023–present | Incumbent |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Democratic nominee forGovernor of Arizona 2022 | Most recent |
| U.S. order of precedence (ceremonial) | ||
| Preceded byas Vice President | Order of precedence of the United States Within Arizona | Succeeded by Mayor of city in which event is held |
| Succeeded by OtherwiseMike Johnson asSpeaker of the House | ||
| Preceded byasGovernor of New Mexico | Order of precedence of the United States Outside Arizona | Succeeded byasGovernor of Alaska |
Statewide political officials ofArizona | ||
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