Hobbs launches multi-million-dollar reelection ad campaign touting working-class background

In her first campaign ads in her reelection bid, Gov. Katie Hobbs is touting her efforts to lower costs for Arizonans and fight for working families across the Grand Canyon State.

Hobbs’ campaign said the two ads — one in English and one in Spanish — are the launch of a multi-million-dollar advertising campaign that will run through the November election.

While both ads center on the governor’s working class background, they each emphasize different parts of her background and record in office. The first ad, titled “Work,” focuses on how Hobbs entered the workforce as a teen to help her family make ends meet. 

It then segues into her time as governor, boasting that she “balanced the budget without raising taxes,” expanded the number of community college scholarships, reduced electricity bills and “cut red tape to build more affordable housing.”

The Spanish-language ad, titled “No Se Rinde,” highlights her work as a social worker and Uber driver — both of which are mentioned in the English ad — but notes that her work in the former helped women escape domestic violence, while the latter was done “because she was determined to take care of her kids.”

“Eso explica por qué no se rinde,” the narrator says, telling the viewer that it all “explains why she doesn’t back down” and will continue to fight for erasing medical debt, lower the cost of prescription drugs and create opportunities for better-paying jobs.

“From working fast-food jobs and driving for Uber to helping families in need as a social worker, Katie Hobbs understands what Arizona families are going through because she’s lived it herself,” campaign spokesman Michael Beyer said in a statement announcing the ads. “From working fast-food jobs and driving for Uber to helping families in need as a social worker, Katie Hobbs understands what Arizona families are going through because she’s lived it herself.”

In a “state of the race” memo sent out to the media in conjunction with the ads, Nicole DeMont, Hobbs’ campaign manager, said that the governor is preparing for “another tight race” in 2026, even as she enters her reelection bid “in an exceptionally strong position.”

While the ads will air on television, DeMont noted in the memo that the campaign is putting less of its spending into traditional media to meet voters “where they are online by launching a data-driven digital program across streaming platforms like YouTube and Spotify, social media, and Google Search.”

A spokesman for Republican gubernatorial candidate Andy Biggs, a veteran Congressman from Gilbert, said Hobbs’ ads make “out-of-context claims and ridiculous statements designed to mislead Arizona voters.”

Drew Sexton, Biggs’ spokesman, said in a written statement that Hobbs’ claims about reducing electricity bills and making it easier to build affordable housing are “jaw-dropping dishonesty” and “delusional.”

And the Republican Governors Association blasted Hobbs for the ads, which it said don’t truly reflect her time in office.

“Hobbs’ tenure as governor is one defined by incompetence, scandal, and hardship. Arizona families are not better off than they were four years ago,” RGA spokesman Kollin Crompton said in a statement. “She can run from that record, but she can’t hide.”