CASA GRANDE – Last week, Gov. Katie Hobbs and Mayor John Giles launched Seniors for Katie, a coalition consisting of senior leaders and community members working to re-elect her. Hobbs marked the launch in Casa Grande, alongside President of the Arizona Alliance for Retired Americans, Linda Somo, and Executive Director of the Arizona Alliance for Retired Americans, Dora Vasquez.
Read more below:
KPNX: Hobbs launches seniors coalition
- Anchor: Meanwhile, Democratic candidate for governor Katie Hobbs has launched a new coalition for Arizona’s senior citizens.
- Anchor: Hobbs says the goal will be to deliver affordable healthcare and housing for seniors.
- Anchor: She also says that she will work with the coalition to find ways to lower the costs of prescription drugs and cut taxes.
Pinal Central: Hobbs highlights senior issues during CG campaign stop
Jodie Newell
October 8, 2026
- Gov. Katie Hobbs brought her re-election campaign to Casa Grande Thursday, focusing on issues affecting Arizona seniors, while also addressing Pinal County’s long-term water future and continued growth.
- Hobbs appeared alongside her running mate, former Mesa Mayor John Giles, at BeDillon’s Restaurant for an event hosted by the Arizona Alliance for Retired Americans, where the governor launched her campaign’s “Seniors for Katie” coalition.
- Representatives from the Arizona Alliance for Retired Americans spoke before Giles and Hobbs, including organization President Linda Somo who contrasted the governor’s record on health care and senior issues with that of her Republican opponent, U.S. Rep. Andy Biggs.
- Hobbs told those attending that her administration had worked hard to lower prescription drug costs, expand access to health care and reduce taxes for Arizona seniors during her first term.
- “I believe that every Arizonan deserves to age with dignity, security, and access to quality care,” Hobbs said.
- The governor pointed to her administration’s efforts involving prescription drug costs and changes to the state’s long-term care system, while making affordability a central theme of her remarks.
- Hobbs also spoke about her own upbringing in a working-class family in Tempe and her career as a social worker, saying those experiences influenced her decision to enter politics.
- “When I talk about making life more affordable for Arizonans, it is not just talk,” Hobbs said. “I understand a lot of that struggle because I’ve lived a lot of it myself.”
- Much of Hobbs’ address was also focused on the November election and drawing a contrast between herself and Biggs, particularly on health care, Medicaid, reproductive rights and election issues.
- Hobbs accused Biggs of supporting policies that would increase health care costs and reduce access to coverage, while also describing him as an “election denier” over his actions following the results of the 2020 presidential election.
- Biggs was also the focus of remarks from running mate Giles, who served 10 years as mayor of Mesa before leaving office in January 2025.
- Giles, a longtime Republican before becoming an independent, said his experience as mayor taught him the importance of working across party lines and concentrating on solving problems rather than partisan politics.
- He said his experience working with Hobbs during her first term as governor was one of the reasons he agreed to join her ticket.
- “I couldn’t be more proud of her,” Giles said. “She has done an amazing job of reaching across the aisle, of not focusing on partisan silliness, and instead focusing on what’s best for our state.”
- Giles also criticized Biggs, recounting his experience working with the congressman while seeking federal support for a new air traffic control tower at the Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport.
- Giles said that despite celebrating passage of legislation that included funding for the project with Biggs in Washington, he later learned that Biggs had voted against the bill.
- Following the event, Hobbs and Giles met with reporters, with Hobbs telling Pinal Central that affordable housing for seniors would remain a priority if she is reelected.
- Hobbs said seniors living on fixed incomes have been particularly affected by increasing costs and pointed to money from the Arizona Housing Trust Fund being directed toward affordable senior housing.
- “I’ve been really excited to break ground and cut ribbons on new affordable housing developments, but I know there’s a lot more to do there, and so that’s going to be a big focus.” Hobbs said.
- Hobbs also spoke about Pinal County’s long-term water future and touched on a visit to Casa Grande earlier this year to mark an Alternative Designation of Assured Water Supply, or ADAWS, which established that the Arizona Water Company had demonstrated sufficient water resources to meet projected demand for 100 years, allowing additional residential development.
- The governor said that designation helped break what she described as a decade-long housing moratorium by identifying an alternative water supply for the rapidly growing area.
- “This is a fast-growing area, and we need affordable housing, and so that’s going to help with that,” Hobbs said.
- She pointed to the designation and agricultural-to-urban water legislation, which allows farmland to be converted to residential development while conserving groundwater, as two of her administration’s biggest water accomplishments, but said additional work remains.
- Hobbs specifically cited the Rural Groundwater Management Act proposed through her bipartisan Water Policy Council as legislation she wants to see approved.
- “That will provide certainty for rural communities, give them more say over their water future, and stop out-of-state corporations from pumping them dry. That has bipartisan support across the state, and I’ll continue pushing to get that passed,” the governor said.
- At the press conference Giles touched on his decision to leave the Republican Party and become an independent.
- He said he had grown increasingly uncomfortable with partisan politics and believed a growing number of Arizona voters felt similarly.
- “I feel very comfortable as an independent, and I think I’m not alone,” Giles said.
- Giles said Hobbs’ decision to choose someone outside her own political party as her running mate reflected an effort to appeal across traditional party lines.
- Hobbs acknowledged during her remarks that she expects another close election after narrowly winning the governor’s office in 2022.
- “We cannot take a single vote for granted,” Hobbs said.
- The Casa Grande event came as early voting was getting underway ahead of the Nov. 3 general election.
