From House Freedom Fighter to Arizona’s Next Governor? Andy Biggs Wins GOP Primary

One of the most constitutionally minded lawmakers in Congress has a chance to become governor of Arizona.

Rep. Andy Biggs won the Republican nomination for Arizona governor on Tuesday. He will take on Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs in November. Hobbs barely beat Kari Lake in 2022, but if you ask Lake (and many of her supporters), she lost that election. Lake challenged the results, but the Arizona Supreme Court ruled them legitimate.

Legitimate or not, Hobbs has been carrying out the role of governor and will face Biggs in November.

A Constitutionalist

Biggs, who beat fellow House Representative David Schweikert in the primary on Tuesday, is among the few members of Congress who understands and regularly adheres to the U.S. Constitution — with some caveats. He has an impressive and rare high score of 95 percent in The New American’s Freedom Index, and has accrued perfect scores in two of the last three Congresses.

Biggs has voted to prohibit the Federal Reserve from issuing a central banking digital currency. He has voted to prohibit the Defense Department from entering into contracts with “fact-checking” entities. He voted to overturn an EPA rule that imposed annual fees on oil and gas facilities that emit methane above certain thresholds. And he voted to rescind $9.4 billion in funding previously appropriated by Congress for fiscal 2025.

Biggs doesn’t believe in doling out money to foreign countries. He voted for an amendment proposed by former GOP Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene to eliminate aid to Ukraine, as well as one to scrap $118 million in foreign aid programs altogether.

Supported by Trump

A former chair of the House Freedom Caucus, Biggs has so far managed to stay on President Donald Trump’ good side, unlike some other constitutionalists (we’re looking at you, Thomas Massie). The president even endorsed Biggs, something many believe is the reason he won.

The fact that Biggs has refused to call out the unconstitutional nature of the president’s actions in Iran may have something to do with Trump’s support. Based on comments he made in March, Biggs appears to believe the president has authority to unilaterally take war action against foreign nations. Speaking of a proposed resolution to pull back the U.S. military from Iran, Biggs said:

I strongly support Congress exercising its constitutional role on matters of war and peace, but the resolution addressed a situation that does not exist. President Trump’s targeted actions to neutralize threats from the Iranian regime fall squarely within his Article II authority as Commander in Chief and within the parameters of the War Powers Act of 1973.

Biggs also voted in June against a resolution to limit Trump’s war powers. Only four House Republicans — Thomas Massie (Ky.), Brian Fitzpatrick (Pa.), Tom Barrett (Mich.), and Warren Davidson (Ohio) — voted for the resolution. Biggs saw the measure as political theater. “I think that was a Democrat gotcha vote where they wanted to embarrass the president. I’m not into embarrassing the president,” he said.

Securing Elections

Biggs supported Trump’s claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him, and voted against certifying that election. Legacy media made sure readers knew this following Tuesday’s victory. “Outspoken election denier romps to victory in Arizona Republican primary,” bellowed the Daily Mail.

Secure elections are one of Biggs’ main issues. He is a co-sponsor of the SAVE (Safeguard American Voter Eligibility) Act, which is generally viewed as a measure that would keep noncitizens from voting in U.S. elections. The president has exerted enormous pressure on congressional Republicans to pass it. The House has passed it, but it has stalled in the Senate, where it needs 60 votes. Republicans hold 53 seats, and there aren’t seven Democrats willing to cross over. Trump has tried to influence the Senate to kill the filibuster, but there is not enough support to get that done. Even some Republicans don’t believe the SAVE Act is worth nuking the filibuster over.

For years, Democrats have insisted that U.S. elections are safe and secure from voting by illegals. But that’s not true. There are numerous cases of illegals voting. Moreover, the governor of New Jersey just admitted that her state registered almost 7,000 noncitizens to vote between June 2023 and June 2024, with six percent of them voting. The governor confessed this was the result of a software glitch, but the fact remains: Noncitizens do vote.

Securing the Border

Border security is another big issue with Biggs. Given Arizona’s geography, he is well aware of the importance of securing the border. He recently shared on his social media an article on border crossings from the nonprofit news outlet The Center Square. The article echoes the reality that under Trump, the southern border has seen a complete turnaround. In June 2024, when the Joe Biden administration was in power, there were nearly 200,000 reported border crossings. By June 2025, less than six months after Trump was inaugurated, that number was down to 25,000. The number remains low, but Biggs believes “we must remain ever-vigilant against forces seeking to exploit migrants and smuggle deadly drugs into America.”

Biggs vs. Hobbs

Four years after Hobbs supposedly beat Lake by less than one percentage point, Arizona will host a gubernatorial contest in November that is likely to be very close. Republicans have expanded their advantage in the state. They’ve increased GOP registration by six percent while Democratic registration has fallen by four percent, according to reports. Assuming the counting of ballots is legal and legitimate, Biggs could very well end up in the Grand Canyon State’s governor’s mansion.

Hobbs is already taking shots at Biggs. She said on Tuesday that “the more Arizonans learn about Biggs, the more they’ll realize he’s one big problem they can’t afford.” Biggs shot back. “We can’t let the state go to somebody who’s actually recklessly incompetent, and that is our current governor,” he said.