Katie Hobbs names John Giles as her running mate in a play for crossover voters

Former Republican and Mesa Mayor John Giles is Gov. Katie Hobbs’ pick for lieutenant governor. 

Giles, a Republican-turned-independent, was rumored to be Hobbs’ top choice for weeks, but the Democrat finally made the announcement early Tuesday. 

“At a time when too many politicians are focused on partisan politics, Arizona deserves a lieutenant governor who shares my commitment to putting Arizona first and delivering real results,” Hobbs said in a statement. 

This year is the first that Arizona gubernatorial candidates must pick a running mate after voters in 2022 created the position of lieutenant governor, who will succeed the governor if they cannot finish their four-year term. 

Hobbs’ choice for lieutenant governor is an overture to moderate Republicans and right-leaning independent voters, whose votes she’ll need to win what’s expected to be a close race against Republican U.S. Rep. Andy Biggs. 

Chuck Coughlin, a veteran lobbyist and political consultant who has worked on multiple Republican gubernatorial campaigns, told the Arizona Mirror that he thinks Giles is “a great pick” for lieutenant governor. 

“The guy’s a genuinely nice person,” Coughlin said. “He was elected mayor in Mesa twice. He’s well regarded amongst the non-partisan element of the state as a problem solver. And he sees the Republican Party for its dysfunction today and decided to leave.”

Giles, who was a registered Republican until May when he registered as an independent, has for years been a vocal critic of his own party’s turn toward extremism. 

In 2024, he endorsed Democratic candidates U.S. Rep. Ruben Gallego and Kamala Harris, and even spoke at the Democratic National Convention in support of Harris. In 2022, he was censured by a local precinct of the Republican Party when he backed Democratic U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly for a second term in the U.S. Senate. That same year, he backed Hobbs in the gubernatorial race against Kari Lake. 

Hobbs will need support from Arizona’s large bloc of independent voters to win in November, to make up for Republicans’ significant voter registration advantage of about 313,000 voters. 

As of July, 35% of Arizona’s registered voters were Republicans, 28% were Democrats and 34% were independents, according to the Secretary of State’s Office. 

“This is a very simple equation,” Stacy Pearson, a Democratic campaign consultant, told the Mirror. “Democrats in Arizona can’t win statewide without Republican and independent crossover. It’s impossible.”

And Pearson believes Giles can win over those crucial votes. 

“Giles has taken a very courageous anti-extremist position, and that’s exactly what Arizona voters are looking for,” she said. 

Pearson pointed out that, during general elections over the past 10 years, Arizonans have increasingly voted for Democrats over far-right Republicans like Lake, for example. 

“Each victory for statewide Democrats has been the direct result of appeals to independents and moderate Republicans,” Pearson said, pointing to Democrats winning races for governor, secretary of state and attorney general in 2024 as examples. 

Arizona’s Democratic Attorney General Kris Mayes, another former Republican, praised Hobbs’ choice. 

“I’m proud to have Mayor Giles with us on the ballot,” she wrote in a social media post. “He’s always put Arizonans first before partisan politics, and he will continue to do so as our Lieutenant Governor.”

In a video accompanying the announcement, Hobbs and Giles focused on putting positive change for Arizonans ahead of partisan politics. 

“I was a lifelong Republican before becoming an Independent because extremists shouldn’t stand in the way of getting things done,” Giles said in the video. 

He touted his background of revitalizing Mesa’s downtown, improving public education and bringing more businesses to the city. 

In a written statement, Giles said he and Hobbs both “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,” he added

The Biggs campaign sharply criticized Hobbs’ choice, saying that Giles had been an “aspiring Democrat” since he voted for Joe Biden for president in 2020. 

“As Kamala Harris’ favorite Arizona mayor, Giles is aligned with Hobbs on all the issues that have hurt Arizonans the most over the past four years,” Drew Sexton, an advisor for the Biggs campaign, said in a statement. 

Sexton called out Giles for praising Biden’s border policy, supporting federal COVID relief and for voting in favor of Mesa’s nondiscrimination ordinance protecting members of the LGBTQ community. 

Biggs last month announced former Arizona Senator Sine Kerr as his pick for lieutenant governor. 

A dairy farmer from Buckeye, Kerr served in the state Senate from 2018 to 2024, and was appointed in May 2025 by the Trump Administration to serve as the state executive director of the USDA Farm Service Agency. The Biggs campaign touted that Kerr’s mother is a naturalized citizen from Mexico, an overture to the state’s large Latino population. 

Coughlin described Kerr, a conservative Republican from a conservative area, as having less broad appeal than Giles. 

“I think it reinforces the view of what Biggs is, and he’s apparently very happy with that,” Coughlin said. “And he’s going to sell that. He’s going to sell the fact that we need a Republican leading the state.” 

With such a significant voter-registration advantage, Biggs has a shot at winning without picking a running mate who will appeal to the masses, Coughlin added.