Republican candidate for governor Andy Biggs has launched two new advertisements, including his first on television ahead of November, as his campaign tries to fend off distractions from its own supporters and address frustrations in the GOP base.
The pair of advertisements on television and streaming services is part of Biggs' effort to chip away at incumbent Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs' dominance of the airwaves.
In partnership with the Arizona Republican Party, Biggs' campaign announced Sept. 10 it would spend $1.75 million over the next three weeks to air the new pair of ads, including about half of that on television.
Meanwhile, the incumbent governor has spent over $14 million to get her message to voters on TV and streaming screens since
late May, her campaign confirmed. Hobbs had outspent Biggs at least 15-to-1 on advertising across platforms as Biggs' new advertisements began airing, according to two Arizona media buyers who track campaign spending.
Biggs' ad buy is small compared with Hobbs' barrage.
“Is it too little? Yes," said GOP consultant Barrett Marson, who is not affiliated with either campaign. "Is it too late? I don't know."
Biggs has trailed Hobbs in every public general election poll since he won the Republican nomination with 74% of the vote in July. Early voting begins Oct. 7, and Biggs will be on air just after the Labor Day weekend that traditionally signals a ramp-up of campaign energy and more voters tuning in.
To an extent, the spending disparity is a symptom of fundraising. Hobbs, the incumbent, has vastly more money in her coffers and can blanket more media platforms to reach Arizona voters.
Hobbs has raised over $16 million in the last 3 1/2 years, compared to Biggs' $3 million since he began his campaign in January 2025. The Democratic Governors Association has pledged an additional $10 million to help Hobbs win a second term in November. Biggs has courted support from the Republican Governors Association, including during a July trip that made him late to his own primary victory party. Yet it isn't clear if the group will support him financially. A spokesperson for the association did not respond to a request for comment.
“He needs the cavalry to come to the rescue," Marson said.
One of Biggs' new advertisements attacks Hobbs as corrupt, a nod to ongoing investigations into Hobbs' ties to a state contractor called Sunshine Residential Homes. The company received a special $4 million pay increase under Hobbs' administration as Sunshine Residential contributed over $550,000 to Hobbs' political operation.
Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes, a Democrat also on the November ballot, conducted a more than two-year investigation. She found no evidence of bribery, affirming that Hobbs did not play a role in the contracting decision.
The second ad is a forced response to Hobbs' onslaught portraying Biggs as a tax hiker. Biggs disputes her claim that he would raise taxes and has instead promised to eliminate Arizona's income tax if he is elected.
The candidates have previously sparred over their records on taxes: Biggs noted Hobbs vetoed tax cuts she is now campaigning on, and Hobbs amplified a bill Biggs backed that would've created a national 23% sales tax.
Hobbs has spent to attack Biggs for controversial votes from his time as state Senate president, and highlight her own record since she was elected governor in 2022. Her ads remind voters she revoked some state land leases that allowed a foreign company to pump groundwater unchecked, and sent National Guard troops to the state's southern border.
Hobbs' spokesperson, Michael Beyer, said Biggs was "scrambling to catch up."
"He has to defend his record of siding with a corrupt pedophile cult, backing Washington policies that are raising costs, and pushing a 23 percent tax on everything Arizonans buy, while Katie Hobbs has been talking directly with Arizonans about the issues that matter most: her record of lowering costs for working families, cutting taxes, securing the border, and protecting Arizona's water," Beyer said in a statement.
GOP voters wonder: Where is Biggs?
A presence on television could placate the GOP's most faithful voters, who have recently signaled they didn't like what they were seeing — or rather, not seeing, from Biggs.
"I got to be honest, me personally, I'm like, I don't feel the energy," Garret Lewis, a conservative talk radio host on Phoenix's 550 KFYI, said on his Sept. 9 show. "I don't see the attacks on Katie Hobbs like I think there should be."
The station is one of Phoenix's most popular. Lewis later praised one of Biggs' ads as "excellent," but did not respond to a request for comment from The Arizona Republic on X.
Those frustrations have put the state GOP on defense, too. Party Chairman Sergio Arellano has twice in the past two months used the party's newsletter to address supporters who aren't seeing enough from Biggs. Arellano did not respond to a request for comment.
"His campaign can't afford to spend money simply preaching to people who already agree with him," Arellano explained on Aug. 23, trying to fend off voter complacency or apathy that could hurt Biggs.
"I know many of you have been concerned that you haven't seen ads," Arellano wrote on Sept. 7.
"We are not ignoring you," he wrote. "We are not taking your vote for granted."
A rapidly shifting media landscape has changed how many campaigns view broadcast advertisements. Streaming services and digital ads offer better targeting of specific voting groups, though they can be less visible than advertisements broadcast across a major television market like Phoenix. In addition to winning over swing voters, advertising can reassure loyal voters that the campaign is hard at work.
Drew Sexton, a spokesperson for Biggs' campaign, said he could understand voter frustration. But he noted Biggs has been traveling the state, doing media interviews and trying to make the case against Hobbs “within every capability that we have.”
"Now that we’re on TV, now that folks are back from vacation and are really tuning into this race, they’re going to see a presence," he said. But that will also require the campaign to bring in more dollars.
"We can absolutely win this race while being outspent," Sexton said. "But it cannot be at the current margins. We need to close the gap, and fortunately the state party has stepped up to help us do that."
Reach reporter Stacey Barchenger at stacey.barchenger@arizonarepublic.com or 480-416-5669.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Biggs campaign hits airwaves, but supporters 'don't feel the energy'
