Arizona Republicans to Pick Governor Nominee in Competitive Primary Tuesday

Arizona’s Republican primary Tuesday will determine which candidate will face Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs in November’s general election. The state’s voters will simultaneously decide matchups for competitive U.S. House races and numerous state and local offices. Republicans view the governorship as a significant pickup opportunity, particularly in a midterm environment historically unfavorable to the party controlling the White House.

Four candidates are competing for the GOP gubernatorial nomination: five-term U.S. Rep. Andy Biggs, a former conservative House Freedom Caucus chair; eight-term U.S. Rep. David Schweikert, who is vacating his swing district seat after three close reelection victories; and businessmen Ken Miceli and Scott Neely, both with construction industry backgrounds. Biggs has secured a key endorsement from President Donald Trump, who previously backed billionaire housing developer Karrin Taylor Robson before she withdrew in February.

The eventual Republican winner, along with his or her statewide political operation, will likely play an influential role in the 2028 presidential campaign as Arizona remains expected to be a pivotal battleground. Among the seven Democratic governors in states Trump carried in 2024, only two face reelection in 2026, with Hobbs being the sole one anticipated to encounter a truly competitive general election.

In the race to fill Schweikert’s 1st Congressional District seat, Republican candidates include state Rep. Joseph Chaplik, former Arizona Cardinals placekicker and sportscaster Jay Feely, and technology and telecommunications executive John Trobough. Trump endorsed both Feely and former state party chair Gina Swoboda, though Swoboda later exited to run for secretary of state. The 1st District encompasses Scottsdale and areas northeast of Phoenix, contained entirely within Maricopa County.

The Democratic primary for the 1st Congressional District features former state Rep. Amish Shah and former news anchor Marlene Galán-Woods, both candidates from the 2024 primary for this seat. Shah won that nomination and received 48 percent of the vote against Schweikert in the general election. Publisher Rick McCartney and entrepreneur Jonathan Treble also compete on the Democratic side.

Another closely watched Republican-held seat in the 6th Congressional District features Rep. Juan Ciscomani seeking a third term against Democratic Marine Corps veteran JoAnna Mendoza. Both candidates face no opposition in their respective primaries. Republicans maintain narrow majorities in both chambers of the state legislature, where all 30 state Senate seats and all 60 state House seats are on the ballot.

Maricopa County, home to Phoenix, Scottsdale, Tempe and Mesa, will be the most influential of the state’s 15 counties in both primaries, having contributed approximately 61 percent of the vote in the 2024 presidential general election. As of July, Arizona had roughly 4.3 million registered voters: approximately 1.5 million Republicans, 1.2 million Democrats and 1.5 million unaffiliated voters.

Polls close at 7 p.m. local time, or 10 p.m. ET for most of Arizona, with no results released before 11 p.m. ET. The state conducts elections predominantly by mail, with approximately 93 percent of the 2022 Democratic primary and 79 percent of the Republican primary cast early or by absentee ballot. As of Thursday, roughly 755,000 ballots had already been cast—approximately 335,000 from Democrats and 347,000 from Republicans.

Arizona counties typically release results from early in-person voting and a substantial portion of mail votes in the first update of the evening. In the 2024 state primary, the AP reported initial results at 11:02 p.m. ET, with approximately half the total votes counted by 11:05 p.m. ET and about 83 percent tallied by approximately 5:35 a.m. ET.