By
Updated on: July 21, 2026 / 10:04 PM EDT
/ CBS News
Add CBS News on Google
Arizona voters headed to the polls Tuesday to choose who will take on Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs, and key congressional districts are also holding primaries as the heated battle to control the House continues. Arizona has traditionally been a heavily Republican state, and six of its nine House representatives are Republicans. But the state currently has a Democratic governor, and both U.S. senators are Democrats. The state voted for former President Joe Biden in 2020, but flipped back in 2024 for President Trump. After the 2020 election, Arizona was one of the states Mr. Trump targeted for his baseless claims of voter fraud — and those claims have continued to reverberate throughout Arizona's politics. Here are the races to watch:Arizona Republican primary for governor Hobbs is running unopposed for the Democratic nomination, and there are four Republicans on the ballot to take her on in November. The two leading candidates are Reps. Andy Biggs and David Schweikert, and Biggs has the president's endorsement.Biggs is leading in early polls, and Francisco Pedraza, the head of Arizona State University's Center for Latina/os and American Politics Research, told CBS News that he could see a Biggs-Hobbs matchup as a "tight race." In 2022, Hobbs narrowly defeated Trump ally Kari Lake in the governor's race. Lake, who backed Mr. Trump's false claims about the 2020 election, has since been tapped by the president to lead the U.S. Agency for Global Media, which oversees Voice of America and other services like Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. The Senate has not yet voted to confirm her nomination.
