Gov. Katie Hobbs gets serious about flipping the Arizona Legislature

Gov. Katie Hobbs on Monday kicked off what will be a nine-month audition to voters, as both Republicans and Democrats begin to make the case that they should control the Arizona Legislature.

Long story short, Hobbs offered a decent opening act. She didn’t inflame the far right — not too much, anyway.

Republican Sen. Jake Hoffman and his fellow Freedom caucusers didn’t walk out mid-speech like last year, though Sen. Anthony Kern once again stood and turned his back to Hobbs — a protest, apparently, of her “tyrannical agenda against the people of AZ.”

So OK, it was not exactly a bipartisan lovefest.

But it was a solid opening performance by Hobbs, who clearly has put the Republicans on notice that she’s in it to win it in November. The only question now is will Republicans help her along by unleashing the crazy?

Hobbs tossed little meat to progressives

Republicans are clinging to control of the Legislature by their fingertips, with just a one-vote margin in each chamber. And Democrats are knocking on the door in several swing districts now held by Republicans.

Hobbs (wisely) showed up without much in the way of red meat to toss to her progressive base. She didn’t repeat last year’s calls for an end to universal school vouchers or to establish state-funded scholarships for undocumented immigrants.

Instead, she (wisely) led off her State of the State speech by complaining about “Washington’s ongoing failure to secure our southern border” and pledged state money for border security and to stop fentanyl from flowing into the country.

“Day in and day out, I hear from leaders on the border who need support because they are stepping up where the federal government can’t, or won’t,” she said.

It was a far cry from her speech a year ago when she lauded the Biden administration for "proposing real steps to begin addressing the problems of the current system.”

Not every idea will fly, but some could

Some of what Hobbs proposed on Monday will be a nonstarter with Republican legislators, including her call to repeal the 1864 law that criminalizes abortion. Also, her call to clamp some controls on Republicans’ signature universal school voucher program.

“It is our responsibility as stewards of this state to put in place guardrails to ensure taxpayer dollars dedicated to education are used properly,” she said. “Without these guardrails, waste, fraud and abuse take root and thrive.”

Won’t it be interesting to watch Republicans on the campaign trail this summer, explaining why they refused to even consider stronger oversight aimed at preventing parents from using Empowerment Scholarship Accounts to “educate” their children at water parks and on the ski slopes and inside trampoline parks?

Hobbs' plan could save: Not kill school vouchers

Some things Hobbs proposed should be easy wins for both parties — like calling for a crackdown on assisted living centers where vulnerable seniors have been injured, terrorized and even killed while a fractured state bureaucracy is impotent to do anything to stop it.

Our laws make it far too easy for assisted living facilities to hide what happens and our state reporting system makes it ridiculously difficult to find out what really goes on when you put mom or dad in one of these places.

Hobbs’ water proposals, however, will be more difficult for Republicans to swallow, including her proposals to prevent rural Arizona from being sucked dry and end loopholes that allow places like Rio Verde Foothills to be built without any water supply.

She made a plea for bipartisan buy-in but also put Republicans on notice that she doesn’t require it.

“To those who have spent years refusing to act: If you don’t, I will,” she said.

Will Republicans pay for this in 2024?

Economic opportunity. Relief from rising prescription drug prices. Mortgage assistance for Arizonans priced out of the home market.

Gov. Hobbs’ speech was Act 1 in her audition to flip the most conservative Legislature in my memory to Democratic control come November.

It remains to be seen how Republicans will respond — most specifically whether Senate President Warren Petersen and House Speaker Ben Toma will allow Hoffman and his Freedom Caucus to run the joint, as they (mostly) seemed to do last year.

But Petersen owes his presidency to Hoffman and Toma is running for Congress against a pack of MAGA candidates..

My guess is the Legislature’s far right culture warriors will run free.

And there’s a good chance Republicans will pay for that come November.

Reach Roberts at laurie.roberts@arizonarepublic.com. Follow her on X, formerly Twitter, at @LaurieRoberts or on Threads at @laurierobertsaz.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Gov. Katie Hobbs makes a serious play to flip the Arizona Legislature