Arizona’s Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs has chosen a former Republican as her running mate for her re-election bid this November.
On Tuesday, Hobbs named John Giles, who served as a GOP mayor of Mesa, Arizona, from 2014 to 2025, as her pick for lieutenant governor.
In a joint video announcement with Giles, Hobbs said she has fought for Arizonans as governor by cutting taxes, securing the border and supporting public safety.
“Now, for the first time in our state’s history, we are electing a governor and lieutenant governor on the same ticket. And the first thing I looked for in a running mate was someone who shares that value of putting Arizonans ahead of partisan politics,” Hobbs said.
Giles said, “I was a lifelong Republican before becoming an independent because extremists shouldn’t stand in the way of getting things done.”
Giles changed his party affiliation to independent in May and voted in the Democratic primary last month, Hobbs’ communications director Michael Beyer confirmed to NBC News.
Voters will elect a lieutenant governor for the first time this fall after a ballot measure creating the position was approved in the 2022 election.
The New York Times was first to report on Hobbs’ plans.
Hobbs faces a competitive race against Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., who previously chaired the conservative House Freedom Caucus and has served in Congress since 2017. Biggs has selected former state lawmaker Sine Kerr as his running mate. Biggs won the Republican primary last month, beating fellow Rep. David Schweikert and businessmen Scott Neely and Ken Miceli.
While mayor of Mesa, Giles endorsed then-Vice President Kamala Harris for president in the 2024 election and spoke at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago that year about his disappointment with the Republican Party.
“I’m a lifelong Republican, so I feel a little out of place tonight. But I feel more at home here than in today’s Republican Party,” Giles said in his remarks. “The Grand Old Party has been kidnapped by extremists and devolved into a cult — the cult of Donald Trump.”
He added, “I have an urgent message for the majority of Americans who, like me, are in the political middle. John McCain’s Republican Party is gone, and we don’t owe a damn thing to what’s been left behind.”
The nonpartisan Cook Political Report rated the governor’s race as leaning Democratic in the battleground state, which President Donald Trump carried in 2016 and 2024 and Joe Biden won in 2020.
In 2022, Hobbs defeated Republican Kari Lake in the gubernatorial election by less than 1 percentage point. Before serving as governor, Hobbs was Arizona’s secretary of state and was also the minority leader in the state Senate and a member of the state House.
Hobbs recently formed a coalition of former and current Republican and independent leaders who support her re-election, which included Giles and more than 50 other business leaders and officials.
The Democratic incumbent has touted her record of working across the aisle, including signing more than 900 pieces of bipartisan legislation into law, according to her campaign. She has also highlighted her efforts to expand affordable housing, secure the border and her repeal of the state’s 1864 total abortion ban
Biggs, meanwhile, has promoted his relationship with Trump and has run on a campaign touting his support for lowering taxes and border security.
