Arizona voters have picked their party nominees for governor and two competitive congressional races, as the primary election outcome provides perspective on how voters are thinking in a key swing state.
President Trump-backed candidates prevailed over other Republicans in the race for governor and a key U.S. House seat. GOP voters also chose candidates for governor and secretary of state who have openly opposed the 2020 presidential election results in a state that has been at the center of debates over election security and integrity.
U.S. Rep. Andy Biggs is the Republican nominee for governor. After the 2020 election, he refused to certify the results over Trump’s unverified claims that the election was stolen for former President Joe Biden. For Arizona’s secretary of state, its top elections officer, GOP voters nominated Alexander Kolodin, an attorney who participated in lawsuits challenging the 2020 election results.
Both governor and secretary of state can be key positions in asserting power over the election process in the battleground state.
While Trump won the state in 2024, Arizonans elected a Democratic governor two years before that. Trump’s popularity in Arizona has also dwindled over his handling of the economy. But that didn’t stop Republican voters from picking Trump-endorsed candidates as the nominee in top races.
Of the 18 congressional districts across the country that are considered true toss-ups, two of them are in Arizona. Democrats are aiming to flip those two congressional seats from red to blue, both critical battles for the Democratic Party if it wants to have a shot at taking back the House in November.
Trump-backed candidate faces Democratic incumbent for the governor’s office
Republican voters selected a Trump-endorsed conservative, Biggs, to challenge Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs for the role in November. Biggs beat three other Republican candidates, including a bid from U.S. Rep. David Schweikert, who was considered to be the more pragmatic, moderate candidate.
Biggs is a longtime Trump loyalist who was a party leader in the ultra-right House Freedom Caucus. Biggs, though, has attempted to tamper down his conservative persona during the primary election campaign by painting himself as someone who could appeal to independent voters.
On the Democratic side, Hobbs is considered to be a vulnerable candidate. Hobbs narrowly defeated conservative Republican Kari Lake for governor in 2022. Despite her endangered status, Hobbs has experience coalescing swing voters in a race against an ultra-conservative, MAGA-aligned challenger.
A Biggs victory appears to indicate that Republican primary voters are swayed by Trump’s opinion, even if the candidate may have a tougher time convincing swing voters ahead of the general election.
Cook Political Report labeled the race as a toss-up ahead of the primary, but following the results switched its analysis to reflect a slight Democratic advantage.
Candidates locked in on key toss-up races
The Trump-endorsed candidate, former NFL kicker Jay Feely, won the Republican nomination in one of the nation’s most competitive elections. Feely’s Democratic challenger hadn’t been determined as of late Tuesday night. The wide-open seat in Arizona’s 1st Congressional District will help determine which party holds control of the House.
Republicans in the district, which consists of the Phoenix metro area, picked the more moderate candidate out of the two front-runners. Feely beat hard-line Republican former state lawmaker Joseph Chaplik, who used to be a member of the Arizona legislature’s Freedom Caucus and had won the support of President Trump.
On the Democratic side, Amish Shah is leading former broadcast journalist Marlene Galan-Woods, a candidate backed by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Galan-Woods had been endorsed by Sen. Mark Kelly, one of the most well-known Democrats in the state. She also switched her party affiliation from Republican to Democrat in 2018.
But the race is anyone’s seat. Trump carried the district by three points in 2024, and Biden won the district by less than two points in 2020. Whoever wins in November will replace outgoing Republican Rep. Schweikert, who lost the GOP nomination for Arizona governor.
Another toss-up race is in Arizona’s 6th Congressional District. Voters will pick between Republican Rep. Juan Ciscomani and Democrat JoAnna Mendoza in November. Both candidates ran unopposed in their respective primary elections.
Ciscomani was first elected in 2022, but won his reelection bid in 2024 with 50% of the vote. Mendoza is a military veteran who served two tours in Iraq and one in Afghanistan.
The district covers parts of Tucson, a sliver of the southern border and rural communities across southeastern Arizona. It’s considered by Cook Political Report to be one of the most evenly divided districts in the nation. Trump won the district by less than a point in 2024 and lost by that same margin in 2020.
In Arizona’s blue-leaning 4th Congressional District, Democratic incumbent Rep. Greg Stanton fended off a primary challenge by progressive candidate Kai Newkirk.
