Watch: 4 GOP candidates face off in Arizona governor debate

Four Arizona Republican primary candidates, including U.S. Reps. Andy Biggs and David Schweikert, square off Wednesday in a governor debate.

The hourlong Arizona Citizens Clean Elections Commission program starts at 6 p.m. and will be broadcast live at KTAR News 92.3 FM and livestreamed on the KTAR YouTube page. (The livestream is embedded on top of this story.)

KTAR will also broadcast and livestream a postdebate special at 7 p.m. with expert guests to analyze what took place.

Arizona Citizens Clean Elections, a voter education resource, has been hosting a slate of debates for candidates in contested federal, statewide and legislative races ahead of the July 21 primaries. Early voting starts June 24.

What to watch for at Arizona Republican governor debate

Biggs and Schweikert will be joined onstage Wednesday by businessman Ken Miceli and entrepreneur Scott Neely as they make their case to face Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs in the November general election.

Recent polling showed Biggs, who has President Donald Trump’s endorsement, with a commanding lead over Schweikert, but a significant portion of the Republican electorate was still undecided.

Republican political consultant Chuck Coughlin of HighGround Inc. said the spotlight will be on the two congressmen in the race.

“I think we’ll hear a lot from Mr. Biggs in contrasting his record with that of Gov. Hobbs. I think that’s the debate he wants to have. I think Mr. Schweikert, on the other side, will take a hammer and nail to Mr. Biggs in an attempt to overtake him in the primary,” Coughlin told KTAR News’ Arizona’s Morning News on Wednesday.

“The other two gentlemen are on the fringe, and they’ll … take up time and maybe add some spice to the debate. But I think it will be up to Schweikert to make it a competitive debate between him and Biggs and to see if he can call into question some of Mr. Biggs’ stuff.”

Coughlin, who discussed the governor debate in detail on this week’s AZ Political Podcast, added that the direction of the conversation will be determined, in part, by the moderator questions.

“It should be an interesting debate, though, and I think we’ll all benefit from it.”

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