Armando López Nogales (born 1 September 1950) is a Mexican former lawyer and politician who was the Governor of Sonora from 1997 to 2003 as a member of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI).

[10] His discourse during the campaign focused on local issues such as agriculture, ranching, infrastructure, public works, employment, and industry.

[10] López Nogales polled at 43% in a predicted landslide victory right before the election according to the most prestigious survey service, Covarrubias y Asociados.

[15] During his governorship, López Nogales had a controversial relationship with José Luis Hernández Salas, editor of Hermosillo-based daily newspaper El Independiente.

According to the International Freedom of Expression Exchange, the governor invited Hernández Salas to dinner in Hermosillo in June 1999, where López Nogales asked him to cover his friend, PRI presidential candidate Francisco Labastida, favorably ahead of the upcoming election in exchange for financial support for the paper.

[16] After the governor was rejected by Hernández Salas, he took ahold of El Independiente three months later in September via dubious legal proceedings and "put it at the service" of Labastida's campaign.