On Thursday, Democrat Katie Hobbs will be ceremonially sworn in as Arizona’s next governor.
Hobbs got here by managing to fight off a strong, Trump-backed opponent in the November election. She, alongside other Democrats, won most other statewide seats up for election.
But the state Legislature is a different story — Republicans maintained their majorities, and a host of Trump-allied conservatives are expected to try and pull the state further to the right.
As the former secretary of state, Hobbs is used to being under attack — she spent the final two years of her term defending the state’s elections from attacks by Republicans at all levels, including those in office and those running against her.
Shortly after she was declared the winner, Hobbs said she’s not going to tolerate election bills pushed by far right conspiracy theorists, some of whom are leaders in the new state Senate.
“I'm not going to coddle somebody who is continuing to spread falsehoods about our election systems or whatever else, even if they're in the majority,” Hobbs told KJZZ News in November.
On the campaign trail, Hobbs questioned Arizona’s existing border policies — like former Gov. Doug Ducey’s shipping container wall and the use of a controversial border strike force. That left one GOP senator saying he felt as though Hobbs was punching Republicans in the face.
One of the first things Hobbs did upon taking office was issue an executive order directing state agencies to adopt new anti-discrimination policies. That has the state’s religious conservatives fuming.
But Democratic lawmakers like Rebecca Rios, who spent the last two years trying to legislate while Republicans controlled the statehouse and governor’s chair – welcome Hobbs’ election.
“We're looking at folks that have been able to do and pass anything they want, because they had full control and full power,” Rios said.
Rios, who’s leaving the Legislature after a long career in politics, says she isn’t expecting miracles, either. “It is going to be a long session,” she said with a sigh.
Republicans held their one-vote majorities in the state house and senate, but the GOP majority this year promises to be more conservative than the last session.
Republican Kirk Adams served in the Arizona House in the 2000s — the last time a Democrat, Janet Napolitano, was in the governor’s office.
“I really think these first 90 days of the legislative session are going to be about testing the resolve of the other side,” Adams said.
Rios says that, to succeed as governor, Hobbs will have to strike a centrist path, much like Arizona’s U.S. senators, Democrat Mark Kelly and Independent Kyrsten Sinema.
“Right down the middle is where she needs to be,” Rios said, “and I think that's where she will be and I think that she has appointed people around her that will provide those guardrails and make sure that that remains her focus."
Adams says Hobbs has already hinted at that centrist tone when it comes to issues like immigration and border security.
On the campaign trail, Hobbs criticized the Biden administration for inaction at the border.
“That is the middle ground in Arizona,” Adams said.
Hobbs said in November that she hopes her election, and wins by Democrats in other high-level offices, signal to at least some Republicans that Arizona is changing –but there are few indications that the Republicans’ Arizonans sent to the statehouse this year are willing to meet her in the middle.
Hobbs may instead end up setting a record for the number of vetoes.
