Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs officially announced former Mesa Mayor John Giles as her running mate in this year’s gubernatorial election.
The New York Times first reported Hobbs planned to select Giles, a former Republican, as her lieutenant governor pick last week.
But, until Tuesday morning, both Giles and the Hobbs campaign declined to confirm that reporting, which cited anonymous sources.
“And the first thing I looked for in a running mate was a person who shares that value of putting Arizonans ahead of politics,” Hobbs said in a video announcing the pick.
Giles served as Mesa mayor between 2014 and 2025. Though the position is technically non-partisan, he was a well known member of the Republican Party during his tenure.
In the announcement video, Giles emphasized his efforts as mayor to bring in businesses, redevelop the downtown area and work with local school districts.
Maricopa County records show he first registered as a Republican in 1986 and re-registered as an independent, with no party affiliation, in May of this year.
But Giles’ pivot away from Republicans started years before that, coinciding with President Donald Trump’s takeover of the GOP.
Giles endorsed Democrat Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election, backed Hobbs in 2022 and endorsed Kamala Harris in 2024.
“I was a lifelong Republican before becoming an independent, because extremists shouldn’t stand in the way of getting things done,” he said.
Hobbs' announcement came more than a week after Republican Congressman Andy Biggs, her opponent in the general election, picked Buckeye dairy farmer and former state lawmaker Sine Kerr as his running mate.
The Hobbs campaign made the pick well ahead of the Sept. 4 deadline set by a new state law approved by Arizona voters that created the lieutenant governor position.
But the Secretary of State’s Office had asked all candidates to make their picks by Aug. 7, so it could send candidate names to local election officials by Aug. 10 as they prepare to print ballots for the November general election.
However, the Secretary of State told the Arizona Supreme Court that the drop-dead printing deadline is Aug. 20.
The Hobbs campaign did not respond to questions about why it missed the Aug. 7 unofficial deadline and waited nearly a week after the New York Times report to confirm the pick.
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