Republicans are projected to expand their majorities in both chambers at the Arizona Legislature but Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs has signaled her strategy to navigate a split government hasn’t changed.
Republicans held two-vote advantages in the Arizona House and Senate last year. According to the latest returns, the GOP is in line to take a 33-27 majority in the House and a 17-13 advantage in the Senate this year.
That came after Hobbs promised to raise $500,000 to flip the Legislature blue and began campaigning alongside Democrats in swing districts in early October around the time early voting began in Arizona.
Despite Democrats’ poor performance, the governor said she doesn’t regret the way she approached those races.
“We did what we needed to do, and I am going to work with the Legislature that Arizonans elected,” Hobbs said.
Meanwhile, Arizona Republicans believe the election results amount to a mandate, showing Arizona voters back their vision for the state’s future.
“There's a mandate, and that mandate is we can't continue to grow government, spend money and regulate everybody to death,” said Karrin Taylor Robson, the failed 2022 Republican gubernatorial candidate who ran the Arizona PAC that poured around $1 million into the state’s legislative races this year.
The Republicans who will run the Legislature next year are also leaning into that “mandate” narrative, arguing voters have endorsed their agenda.
'The most conservative Legislature in history'
Senate President Warren Petersen (R-Gilbert), who was again selected by his colleagues to lead the chamber next year, called the incoming body “the most conservative Legislature in history.”
“With our expanded majority we will make sure our communities are safe and that our kids have the best educational opportunities possible,” Petersen said on social media. “We will continue to lower taxes and eliminate government waste. We will work with the Trump administration to make sure our border is safe. We will secure our water supplies and our elections.”
Hobbs, for her part, emphasized the need for compromise to effectively govern a split state, though she highlighted many of the same priorities as Petersen – with a few notable exceptions.
“I will work with the Legislature that Arizona elects to continue to deliver for Arizonans,” Hobbs said. “And as I go across the state, I talk to everyday Arizonans. The things they are concerned about are being safe in their communities, border security, lower costs for things like groceries, gas, housing, our water security and protecting their freedoms like reproductive and voting rights.”
Despite saying voters gave Republicans a mandate, Taylor Robson struck a similar tone.
“We can all hope that, you know, the people of Arizona get good government and that means everybody has to work together,” she said. “Figure out what they agree on, focus on that, and try to make good things happen for, you know, the people of Arizona – not just one group or another group, but all groups in all Arizonans.”
Hobbs acknowledged that “this is the Legislature elected by these everyday Arizonans,” but pushed back on the idea that voters handed Republicans a mandate to take the lead on issues like water policy and border security, where Democrats and Republican policy goals differ significantly.
“Everyday Arizonans who also elected me and they expect our leaders to work together to solve these challenges,” she said.
But Hobbs’ calls for compromise only go so far.
The governor vetoed a record number of bills in her first two years – which prompted Republican lawmakers to send a total of 11 proposals to voters to circumvent the governor, including a controversial border security measure that passed with about 63% of the vote, according to the latest returns.
Hobbs said she doesn’t regret those vetoes, even though voters ultimately approved the border measure and three other Republican proposals.
“The voters said most of them were bad ideas, and we knew that going in, and they rejected most of them, pretty resoundingly,” Hobbs said, pointing out that voters shot down seven other GOP measures.
Legislation to speed up vote counting
The governor appears poised to continue blocking key Republican priorities, including efforts to shorten the amount of time it takes to count votes in Arizona.
It regularly takes Arizona – and many other states – 10 days or more to count ballots, and many Republicans have called for election reforms to speed up the process.
Petersen said he plans to introduce legislation modeled after rules in Florida that would limit the amount of time Arizonans have to turn in early ballots, which can be dropped off through Election Day under current law. Those “late early” ballots can delay the reporting of election results, because they still must go through time-consuming ballot processing.
His proposal would create a deadline to drop off early ballots by 7 p.m. on the Friday before an election to give election workers more time to process them.
“And then, after that, I've got to vote in person,” Petersen said. “Why is that an issue?”
Hobbs indicated she would veto that legislation.
“My line in the sand has been and will continue to be anything that makes it harder for Arizonans to vote is a no for me, and that includes the flexibility that we have with early voting,” Hobbs, a former secretary of state, said.
Hobbs argued the time it takes Arizona to count votes – which is in line with many other states – isn’t a problem.
“The issue is not that it takes too long to count ballots,” she said. “We need to be focused on making sure that we get the results right, not faster. And I know that people are frustrated about it, but the answer is not making it harder for people to vote.”
