Kathleen Marie Hobbs (born December 28, 1969)[1][2] is an American politician and social worker serving as the 24th governor of Arizona since 2023.

Hobbs won the 2022 Arizona gubernatorial election, narrowly defeating Republican nominee Kari Lake.

[12] She is an adjunct faculty member of social work at Paradise Valley Community College and Arizona State University.

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.

[32] In 2021, the Arizona Senate Republicans provided $150,000 to fund an audit aimed at contesting the 2020 presidential election results in Maricopa County.

In a six-page letter, Hobbs wrote that the audit's chain of custody was lacking, calling it "a significant departure from standard best practices".

[33] In response, Hobbs received death threats, and the Arizona Department of Public Safety assigned personnel to guard her and her staff.

[34] Hobbs's complaints were echoed in a letter to State Senate President Karen Fann from the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, which had a 4-1 Republican majority.

Fann, referring to one of Donald Trump's claims of election fraud, contended that the county had deleted an entire database.

[41] The auditors released a report in September 2021, finding no proof of fraud and that their ballot recount increased Biden's margin of victory by 360 votes.

[42][43] On June 2, 2021, Hobbs announced her candidacy for governor of Arizona in the 2022 election to succeed term-limited Republican incumbent Doug Ducey.

[44][45][46] Hobbs ran against former Customs and Border Protection chief of staff Marco Lopez and former state representative Aaron Lieberman in the Democratic primary.

[47][48] Hobbs faced the Republican nominee, former KSAZ-TV news anchor Kari Lake, in the general election.

[55][56][57] In March 2023, the Arizona Supreme Court declined to hear Lake's lawsuit concerning the election,[58] and in May reaffirmed its decision after a trial.

[66][67][68] Since taking office, Hobbs has issued several executive orders, including those prohibiting state agencies and all new state contracts or subcontracts from discrimination based on traits of sexual orientation, gender identity,[69] hair texture and protective styles,[70] and has established several commissions, including an independent prison oversight commission;[71] a commission on homelessness and housing that was abolished in 2020; a bipartisan elections task force;[72] and a task force on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women.

[75] One of them, concerned with cottage foods and colloquially known as the "tamale bill", became a topic of national conversation after multiple Democratic legislators voiced their opposition to the veto.

[81] In May 2023, ahead of the repeal of Title 42, Hobbs announced that the state will establish five new bus routes to transport migrants from small border communities to Tucson.

[83] On May 2, 2024, Hobbs signed a bill to repeal a near-total abortion ban from 1864 that the Arizona Supreme Court reinstated on April 9, 2024.

[86] An opponent of capital punishment, Hobbs has halted executions and was to appear alongside Ryan Thornell, Arizona's prison director, in Maricopa County Supreme Court.

[89] In May 2023, the Russian government added Hobbs to a list of people permanently banned from entering Russia.

[91] In March 2024, Hobbs announced that Arizona would use $30 million of federal COVID-19 relief funds to forgive Arizonans' medical debts.

[93][94][95] The bill would have reduced red tape around housing construction by preventing Arizona municipalities from requiring homeowners' associations, minimum home sizes, and certain building setbacks.