Arizona's Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs appears poised to pick a Republican as her running mate: a former Mesa mayor who is not afraid to cross party lines.
John Giles drew national attention in 2024 after urging the state's Republicans to vote against Donald Trump in favor of Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris. He also supported Democrat Ruben Gallego for U.S. Senate.
In 2022, Giles chose to endorse Hobbs for governor and U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly for reelection, saying he endorsed the candidates because he felt they were better options for Mesa and the goals the city wanted to achieve. Despite the Republican blowback, silence wasn’t an option, he said.
“I don’t make those kinds of decisions based on what the political advantages are,” Giles
told The Arizona Republic after the 2024 election.
Here's what else to know about Hobbs' likely choice to run on her ticket as lieutenant governor.
What is John Giles' record as Mesa mayor?
Giles was first elected in 2014 to a two-year term after then-Mayor Scott Smith left to run for governor.
"I love and appreciate the Mesa of today but have a vision of where I want it to be," he said at the swearing-in ceremony where he became Mesa's 40th mayor. "Standing still or accepting average is not what we want and not what the people who sent us here deserve."
The mayor's office is a nonpartisan elected position. Giles ran on the idea to change the image of Mesa, and during his tenure it became a regional economic hub with an increasingly vibrant downtown. Under his leadership, Mesa became known as less insular and more tolerant of diverse groups.
A few months after Giles was sworn in, the Valley Metro Rail expansion into downtown began operating.
"We couldn't have an empty train, you know, running through our downtown. And so, we prioritized economic redevelopment and downtown redevelopment,” he said.
He has called the downtown district a "10-year overnight success." Part of prioritizing that redevelopment included bringing in housing. Under his leadership, the city also brought an Arizona State University campus to downtown Mesa.
Giles won two full terms in 2016 and 2020 with ease.
Giles endorsed Hobbs in 2022, Harris in 2024
Giles is a longtime backer of the current governor. He endorsed Hobbs, who was then the secretary of state, before her 2022 victory over Republican Kari Lake in her first race for governor. He joined a contingent of GOP leaders who campaigned on her behalf.
Giles said Lake was “dangerous for Arizona."
“Those of us who support Secretary Hobbs care very deeply about the future of Arizona,” he said at the time. “And that’s why we are putting our state above our party.”
Giles is a member of Hobbs' recently announced "Arizona Over Party" coalition, which includes more than 50 current and former Republican and independent leaders.
Her campaign said the group was a sign of her commitment to earn the vote of every Arizonan, in spite of party affiliation.
Giles backed former Vice President Harris’ bid to become the Democratic presidential nominee and urged Arizona Republicans to vote for her, saying then-candidate and former President Donald Trump "poses a threat" to the nation.
It will take Republicans, Democrats and independent voters to stand "together against a far-right agenda" and beat Trump, Giles wrote in July 2024.
“That’s why I’m standing with her. Kamala Harris is the competent, just and fair leader our country deserves. This year too much is at stake to vote Republican at the top of the ticket,” he wrote.
In an op-ed published in The Arizona Republic, Giles wrote it was time to “return to the core foundations of the Grand Old Party,” and choose a leader who will put country over party.
Is the Hobbs-Giles ticket a sure thing?
Neither Hobbs, nor her campaign, nor Giles has confirmed his selection as her running mate. The New York Times broke the story, citing anonymous sources.
On leaving the Mesa mayor's office in January 2025, Giles told The Republic he was done running for office but would continue his public service.
"I continue to have a desire to serve, but there’s a lot of ways to do that other than an elected office, and I think that’s my future," he said at the time.
What should I know about John Giles?
The son of elementary school educators, Giles grew up in Mesa and graduated from Westwood High School in 1978.
The two years he spent in Seoul, South Korea, in the early 1980s as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was a “profound experience,” Giles has said.
After returning stateside, he moved to Provo, Utah, and attended Bringham Young University in 1982, where he met his wife, Dawn.
Giles later attended Arizona State University and received his law degree in 1987. He served as a City Council member from 1996 to 2000 and decided at the time to not run for a second term to focus on his family and career.
After decades working as a lawyer in downtown Mesa, practicing personal injury law, his career was at its peak, he said. But after some thought, he decided to be an example for his family to prioritize community service and not be "too overly focused on financial success."
Giles announced his mayoral campaign in front of his firm’s office on Jan. 13, 2014.
Before he became mayor, he trained, ran 20 marathons and completed two full Ironman competitions. But once he entered the office, he turned all of his attention to the city.
Who is the Republican nominee for lieutenant governor?
Andy Biggs, who won the Republican nomination for governor, selected Sine Kerr as his running mate.
The Buckeye native comes from an agriculture background. She and her husband ran a dairy farm for more than 40 years in the West Valley district she represented at the state Legislature.
Elected three times as a state senator, she decided not to run in 2024. Kerr was tapped by the Trump administration to serve as the state executive director of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Farm Service Agency in Arizona.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: John Giles has crossed party lines before. Now he's Katie Hobbs' likely running mate
