AZ Political Podcast: Andy Biggs talks about running for governor, what he’ll do if he wins

Despite a commanding lead in Republican primary election polling for the Arizona governor’s race, Congressman Andy Biggs — my guest on the AZ Political Podcast this week — says he doesn’t “take anything for granted.”

Methinks his full-steam-ahead attitude isn’t in place to make sure primary opponent Congressman David Schweikert is completely buried in the gubernatorial primary — because Biggs has apparently already done that.

A Noble Predictive Insights (NPI) poll conducted June 29-July 1 showed nearly half of likely GOP primary voters (47%) had already voted. And among them, Biggs enjoyed 61% to Schweikert’s 12%.

With a five-to-one lead over his closest contender, Biggs has essentially lapped his primary opponents, according to NPI’s Mike Noble. So, Biggs is keeping the pedal to the metal in an attempt to maintain momentum and possibly overtake incumbent Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs.

Rep. Biggs and I talk about what it’s like running a statewide campaign covering Arizona’s 114,000 square miles while also carrying out his congressional duties in D.C.

Since we kind of already know how differently he’ll do things than Hobbs, I ask him how he might do things differently than previous Republican governors.

And we talk about many other things, including: how he’ll convince Arizona’s (all-important) independent voters to check the “Biggs box”; where he stands on data centers; what he’d do on Day 1 in office; and, since it will be Arizona’s first one ever, Biggs reveals what goes into choosing a lieutenant governor candidate to run alongside him.

If Biggs is blessed bigly on July 21, will powering through the primary create enough momentum for him to humble Hobbs? You’ll have to wait until the general election on Nov. 3 to get that fully answered — but watching or listening to the AZ Political Podcast in the meantime may throw some tea leaves on the table for you to read.

The AZ Political Podcast is available at KTAR.com, the KTAR News app and everywhere you get your podcasts.

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