Gov. Katie Hobbs has officially announced former Republican Mayor John Giles as her running mate a week after news of her pick leaked to the national media.
Giles, the former mayor of Mesa, was a Republican for decades before he changed his voter registration earlier this year, leaving the GOP to be unaffiliated with any political party. But he has been well established as an anti-Trump conservative who has supported Democrats in recent cycles, including 2024 presidential hopeful Kamala Harris.
He was among the most prominent Republicans who supported Hobbs for the Governor's Office in 2022 over her GOP challenger, Kari Lake. Hobbs defeated Lake by about 17,000 votes that year.
Giles could help Hobbs grow that margin this year by appealing to moderate
GOP and independent voters.
Giles said in an Aug. 11 statement provided by the campaign he was "honored to join Katie Hobbs on this historic ticket because we share the belief that leadership is about bringing people together and getting results."
"I'm proud to stand with her to put Arizona first, find common ground, and keep moving our state forward," Giles said.
Curiosity about Hobbs' pick to be her lieutenant governor has absorbed political attention across Arizona for about a week, after the New York Times broke the news on Aug. 4 that Hobbs would name Giles as her running mate. The Times' report relied on two unnamed sources close to the Hobbs campaign and Giles.
Still, Hobbs' campaign had refused to confirm the Democrat's choice for her No. 2, leading to a clunky rollout of her selection. Arizonans will elect a lieutenant governor for the first time this year, after voters created the position by passing a 2022 ballot measure.
Rep. Andy Biggs, the Republican nominee for governor who is hoping to keep Hobbs to a single term in office, had previously named his running mate. He selected former state Sen. and dairy farmer Sine Kerr, a West Valley native who most recently worked for the Trump administration's Agriculture Department.
Biggs' campaign adviser Drew Sexton cast Giles as more like Hobbs than someone who would bring in more voters, labeling Giles "Kamala Harris' favorite Arizona mayor."
"Arizonans will see this botched, half-baked announcement as just another example of Katie Hobbs' chaos and incompetence and another reason to vote for Andy Biggs and Sine Kerr in November," Sexton said.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Katie Hobbs officially picks ex-Republican John Giles as running mate
