AZ Political Podcast: Andy Biggs on friends in high places and south of the border

Congressman Andy Biggs not only has friends in high places (Donald Trump, anyone?), he has friends south of the border (relationships Biggs developed while in the state Legislature).

He tells me on the AZ Political Podcast that if he’s elected governor, he’ll make calls to those friends (in the White House and Mexico) to improve relations with Arizona’s — and America’s — biggest trading partner: Mexico.

That doesn’t mean, however, that Biggs believes tariffs can’t be a part of the equation. And it doesn’t mean that border security should be ignored in order to improve economic relations with Mexico.

In fact, Biggs believes both of those items can be used in negotiations to create a better relationship with our neighbor to the south.

One way he says he’ll improve border security is to bring back something incumbent Democratic Governor Katie Hobbs disbanded early in her term: the Arizona Border Strike Task Force that was put together by former Republican governor Doug Ducey.

I put Rep. Biggs on the spot and ask him to tell me where he sees eye-to-eye with Hobbs — as well as the issues he agrees upon with his Primary Election opponent, fellow Republican Congressman David Schweikert.

And I ask him if he’s comfortable leaving his Congressional constituents in the hands of former Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb, the presumptive GOP nominee and General Election winner in Biggs’ overwhelming-Republican 5th Congressional District.

That’s because Lamb is facing some icky sexual allegations these days.

We also cover what it’s like trying to cover almost all of Arizona’s nearly 114,000 square miles in a more-than-year-long statewide campaign.

He posted on X that he was headed to Yuma after our conversation in north Phoenix. (I suggested a neck pillow in order to catch some passenger-seat Zs during his whistle-stop tour of the state.)

And we cover something that only covers 0.3% of those 114,000 square miles, but means so much to Arizona’s future: H2O.

Water is a resource Biggs thinks Hobbs has not handled very well — both in terms of the signals she’s sent to businesses regarding its availability to meet our state’s growth and in her negotiations with other Colorado River Basin states.

With a little over five months before the Arizona voters decide whether to change out our state government’s chief executive, I’m sure we’ll have Andy Biggs on the AZ Political Podcast again. For his sake, I hope he’s able to catch some naps between now and then.

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