Arizona Democrats up and down the ticket pretty much routed their foes, delivering what GOP gubernatorial hopeful Andy Biggs acknowledged may have been inevitable: It was not a good time to be running as a Republican.
"It is a bad year,'' he told Capitol Media Services Tuesday night as the numbers were coming in showing he was headed for defeat in his bid to deny a second term to Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs.
"Just look at the national picture,'' Biggs said. "If affordability's your issue and you've got gas prices that are the second highest in the country in Arizona, it's going to be tough.''
Republican gubernatorial candidate Andy Biggs addresses supporters Tuesday night as it became clear that his attempt to unseat Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs was going down to defeat.
He's not alone in that assessment.
Former state Sen. Eddie Farnsworth, a supporter who came to what Biggs had hoped would be a victory rally Tuesday night in Chandler, said Republicans were already starting the races with a handicap.
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"There's a natural inclination for the people to vote against the party that's in power,'' he said. "In the midterms, you're going to get a swing to the other side anyway.''
But there was more than that. Farnsworth said the pocketbook issues, including the price of fuel, created additional headwinds for Republicans. And he said who caused it — and whether some of the blame goes back to both COVID and the Biden administration — ended up not mattering.
And then there is the war in Iran.
"Certainly he made that decision,'' Farnsworth said of President Donald Trump.
"He knew it would have a consequence in the midterms,'' Farnsworth continued. But he said the president, fixed on what he said was keeping Iran from getting a nuclear device, brushed aside what it would mean in the midterm elections.
"But it does have a consequence,'' Farnsworth said. "And that's a big part of it tonight.''
GOP-referred ballot measures fare better Â
There is, however, another side to all of this.
Arizona Senate President Warren Petersen, defeated in his bid to oust incumbent Democratic Attorney General Kris Mayes, noted that while voters Tuesday were rejecting GOP candidates, they did approve more than half of the measures that were on the same Arizona ballot — including several that were put there by Republican lawmakers after they were vetoed by Hobbs.
Republican Warren Petersen, conceding defeat Tuesday night in his attempt to be elected attorney general. With him on stage is GOP gubernatorial candidate Andy Biggs, who also lost.
Proposition 318, which was leading by 12 points early Wednesday, is designed to restrict transgender students from using bathrooms and private spaces at schools that do not reflect their biological identity at birth.
Hobbs, in her veto, said she opposed legislation targeting transgender youth.Â
The governor also rejected a measure that sought to ban police from using speed- and red-light cameras, saying local leaders said it would harm public safety. But by a wide margin, voters approved Proposition 319, which bans any community that does not have photo enforcement now from starting such a program and requires cities that has it now to get voter approval to continue using it.Â
Hobbs also nixed a bill that would prohibit cities and towns from imposing their sales taxes on groceries. Proposition 316, which was winning, doesn't go quite that far but requires communities to get voter approval to enact or increase such grocery taxes.
"I believe that most of Arizona shares our values,'' Petersen said.
