Arizona’s GOP Gubernatorial Primary Sees Key Candidate Exit Amid Tax Conformity Standoff
In a surprising turn of events, the Arizona GOP gubernatorial primary has taken a significant shift with the withdrawal of a key contender, while the debate over tax conformity continues to create a legislative impasse. This week, political discussions have centered around these developments, with implications for the upcoming elections and state tax policies.
Former state lawmaker Regina Cobb and Dawn Penich of Agave Strategy shared insights on KJZZ’s The Show about the recent political landscape changes. The conversation highlighted Karrin Taylor Robson’s decision to suspend her gubernatorial campaign, aiming to prevent a divisive primary race among Republicans as they gear up to challenge Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs.
Robson’s Campaign Suspension
MARK BRODIE: Regina, let’s talk about Karrin Taylor Robson. (Thursday) afternoon, she sent a press release saying that she was suspending her gubernatorial campaign. What do you make of the fact that she’s calling it quits?
REGINA COBB: Well, to begin with, I was totally surprised. And I love the statement she made. I admire Karrin and respect her very much. I’m hoping that it isn’t anything personal, that it is just what she said, that this is something that she’s trying to bring the party together.
Business owner and lobbyist Karrin Taylor Robson suspended her campaign for governor Thursday, saying she wants Arizona Republicans to avoid a divisive primary race ahead of the party’s efforts to unseat Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs.
BRODIE: In her statement, as you alluded, she wanted to avoid a messy, contentious intraparty primary. Does her getting out of the race achieve that?
COBB: I don’t know if it does or not. Depends on whether or not Schweikert’s still staying in the race or not. You know, the rumor out there is that he’s possibly getting out of the race. This could be a single-person primary. If Schweikert gets out of the race and gets back into the congressional race in District 1, then we’re sitting with one candidate.
DAWN PENICH: Well, I think that we saw in her initial run and in the last recent several months that she was struggling to try to walk that line of the Trump endorsement that she was the first to get, but still also maintain this like “I’m the more moderate candidate that the general election will be able to support.”
But looking at it from Gov. Hobbs’ perspective, any incumbent wants their opponent’s primary to be as expensive and as messy as possible.
Tax Conformity Deadlock
BRODIE: So Dawn, if you are Gov. Hobbs’ team right now — and again, assuming that both the candidates who are in today stay in — do you have a preference as to which one you face going into November?
PENICH: Oh gosh. Well, I think the general feeling is that Biggs is the stronger candidate of the two, the strongest in the field.
Meanwhile, the state Legislature’s struggle with tax conformity continues, as the Republican-led House and Senate passed their second tax conformity bill, only to face Gov. Hobbs’ veto again. The lack of agreement on aligning state tax rules with federal changes has left taxpayers in uncertainty.
COBB: Well, they’re going to have to come to an agreement pretty soon here because the taxpayers do need to know this. This is something we’ve done every year. We’ve had to conform every year. This one’s a little bit more difficult, I think.
Gov. Hobbs has been clear in her stance against the full conformity bills, citing significant tax cuts that could affect a broad range of Arizona families. The ongoing political standoff underscores the urgency of reaching a consensus as taxpayers begin to file their returns.
BRODIE: Regina, do you think that’s a wise stance by the governor to sort of draw this line in the sand? And seemingly so far there, it doesn’t seem as though there have been a whole lot of talks.
COBB: Yeah, I don’t think it’s a wise stand. I think the public is going to eventually get into this. And the private person is going to say, “Hey, I can’t file my taxes. Get something done.” And everybody’s going to take a little bit of a hit on this.
The need for compromise is evident, with both sides needing to negotiate a solution promptly to avoid further complications for Arizona taxpayers.
KJZZ’s The Show transcripts are created on deadline. This text is edited for length and clarity, and may not be in its final form. The authoritative record of KJZZ’s programming is the audio record.
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