Trump-backed election denier Andy Biggs wins Arizona GOP governor primary
Trump-endorsed election denier Andy Biggs won Arizona’s Republican primary for governor Tuesday, advancing to a November contest that could determine whether one of the country’s most important battleground states continues resisting President Donald Trump’s attacks on elections.
Biggs, a U.S. House representative and former chair of the far-right House Freedom Caucus, will face incumbent Gov. Katie Hobbs (D), who ran unopposed in the Democratic primary.
His nomination gives Arizona Republicans a candidate who helped Trump try to overturn the 2020 presidential election and has continued refusing the legitimacy of former President Joe Biden’s victory.
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On Jan. 6, 2021, Biggs objected to counting Arizona’s electoral votes, along with the votes from five other states Biden won.
“I object to counting the votes of Arizona electors because the federal courts went around the legislatively constructed mechanism for choosing Arizona’s presidential electors allowing tens of thousands of voters to unlawfully cast votes,” Biggs said in prepared remarks. “The debate as to the legitimacy of the 2020 presidential election has been suppressed by the left and its propogandists [sic.] in the media.”
Biden won Arizona by over 10,000 votes. State and local officials counted, audited and certified the result, and repeated investigations found no evidence of fraud that could have changed the outcome.
Biggs also participated in “Stop the Steal” events and sought a presidential pardon following the attack on the U.S. Capitol, according to testimony presented by the House committee that investigated Jan. 6.
He has since refused to say plainly whether Biden legitimately won the election.
If elected, Biggs would gain significant power over voting in a state at the center of Trump’s continuing efforts to reopen the 2020 election and exert greater federal control over election administration.
Arizona’s governor can sign or veto legislation affecting mail voting, registration and the certification of elections. Hobbs has used that authority to block numerous Republican-backed voting restrictions during her first term.
Biggs’ victory sets up a stark November choice between a governor who has defended Arizona’s election system and an election denier who tried to discard the state’s legitimate votes.