HOBBS
Kathleen

• 1. Early political career
• 1.1. Arizona House of Representatives
• 1.2. Arizona Senate
• 1.3. Governor of Arizona

Kathleen Marie Hobbs is an American politician and social worker who is the governor-elect of Arizona, having been elected in 2022. She has served as the 21st secretary of state of Arizona since 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, Hobbs served in the Arizona Senate from 2013 to 2019 and in the Arizona House of Representatives from 2011 to 2013.

Born and raised in Arizona, Hobbs holds degrees in social work from Northern Arizona University and Arizona State University. She specialized in domestic violence and worked for one of nation's largest domestic violence centers. Inspired to run for office by her involvement with Emerge Arizona, Hobbs was elected to the Arizona House of Representatives in 2010 and to the Arizona Senate in 2012. She served as Senate minority leader from 2015 to 2019 and was elected secretary of state of Arizona in 2018.

Hobbs won the 2022 Arizona gubernatorial election, narrowly defeating Republican nominee Kari Lake. She is set to become Arizona's fifth female governor scheduled to be sworn in on January 2, 2023.

Early political career

Before seeking elected office, Hobbs participated in political leadership programs in multiple organizations, including Valley Leadership, Emerge Arizona, and the Center for Progressive Leadership. She was a delegate for Hillary Clinton at the 2008 Democratic National Convention.

Hobbs served on the Phoenix Women's Commission and the Phoenix Human Services Commission.

Hobbs was the executive director of Emerge Arizona from 2013 to 2019.

Arizona House of Representatives

Hobbs was elected to the Arizona House of Representatives in 2010. She represented the 15th legislative district alongside Lela Alston.

Hobbs credited her interest in politics to her involvement with Emerge Arizona and was inspired to run for office by the people she assisted as a social worker, believing they were not being heard by the government. She advocates ending domestic violence.

Hobbs served one term in the House of Representatives and ran for state senate in 2012.

Arizona Senate

Hobbs was elected to the Arizona Senate in 2012 and reelected in 2016. She represented the 24th legislative district. She originally did not want to run for state senate but did so due to redistricting. Hobbs became minority leader in 2015 and served two terms in that position.

In 2015, during her first term as minority leader, Senate staffer Talonya Adams, a Black woman, complained to Hobbs about her concerns about racial and gender-based discrimination and was later fired in part by Hobbs. In November 2021, Adams won a discrimination lawsuit related to her firing and was awarded a judgment of $2.75 million.

Hobbs resigned her seat in the State Senate on January 7, 2019, after being elected secretary of state. She was succeeded by Alston.

Governor of Arizona

On June 2, 2021, Hobbs announced her candidacy for governor of Arizona in the 2022 election to replace term-limited Republican governor Doug Ducey.

Hobbs ran against former Customs and Border Protection chief of staff Marco Lopez and former state representative Aaron Lieberman in the Democratic primary. Despite declining to debate her opponents, she won the Democratic nomination with 72.3% of the vote.

Hobbs faced the Republican nominee, former KSAZ-TV news anchor Kari Lake, in the general election. She limited access to reporters, sometimes going out of her way to avoid them, and held small-scale campaign events. She declined to debate Lake, stating she wanted to deny Lake the opportunity to spread election denialism. Hobbs narrowly defeated Lake with 50.3% of the vote. After the election, Lake refused to concede the election and is assembling a legal team to contest the election results against Hobbs.