Andy Biggs, Katie Hobbs to field questions, but not from each other, at public safety policy forum

Gov. Katie Hobbs and Andy Biggs aren’t debating ahead of the Nov. 3 general election, but Arizona’s gubernatorial candidates are both scheduled to join an inaugural public safety forum hosted by the Arizona Police Association.

They aren’t sharing the stage, but each will answer specific questions during the 2026 Gubernatorial Public Safety Policy Forum on Aug. 25, according to Joe Clure, the APA’s executive director.

“We chose this format because we think it’s better structured to get actual policy questions addressed,” Clure told KTAR News 92.3 FM’s The Mike Broomhead Show on Monday. “Unfortunately, in this environment of political debates, so many of them deteriorate into chaos and the voters aren’t really able to get much substance on policy.”

Why were Katie Hobbs and Andy Biggs invited to join policy forum?

Clure sees the upcoming event as an opportunity for both gubernatorial candidates to explain their public safety policies in a clear, thorough manner. There are multiple critical issues he looks forward to hearing them address.

“One hot button item is, of course, public safety monitoring systems, fentanyl, homeless, increased teen violence, federal DOJ consent decrees and how they operate within the state and drain precious resources from public safety agencies,” Clure said. “But there’s lots of things to address with the governor and potential governor candidate.”

Hobbs announced last week she won’t debate against Biggs ahead of the election, mirroring a strategy she used during her successful campaign against Kari Lake four years ago. While they didn’t debate in 2022, Hobbs and Lake appeared separately at the same town hall event ahead of that year’s general election.

“Public safety is not red or blue or R or D. It is just simply the safety of the public,” Clure said. “That’s how we view it: in a nonpartisan manner. And what’s important here is policy over politics.”

Details about public safety event Andy Biggs, Katie Hobbs will speak at

The event with Hobbs and Biggs will take place in the Haas Digital Global Forum, which is at ASU’s Thunderbird School of Global Management in downtown Phoenix.

“It’s not open to the public, per se, but there is the opportunity for the public to attend, and many have taken up sponsorships on tables,” Clure said. “There’ll be a reception and a dinner, of course, prior to the event, and then it’ll basically be a question-answer forum.”

Clure expects there to be around 125 people in attendance, in addition to Hobbs and Biggs.

“It may may or may not be the only time that the two are involved in the same event,” Clure said. “I think it demonstrates — for both of them — just how important public safety is and we greatly appreciate their commitment to sit down and talk to us about policy issues.”

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