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To say the last election cycle for Arizona Republicans was not successful would be an understatement.  It was disastrous. Democrats control both U.S. Senate positions, four U.S. House seats, the Governorship, and the Attorney General’s Office, as well as other key positions, and are almost even with Republicans in the legislature.  In addition, they maintain substantial control over the election process, aided in part by recalcitrant Republicans.

The divisions between the McCain forces and the MAGA forces have been debilitating.

The result is that the state has joined deep blue states in numerous lawsuits and has primarily been paralyzed at the state level due to narrow margins that don’t permit overrides of gubernatorial vetoes.

As of October 1, 2025 Governor Hobbs of Arizona, a left-wing Democrat, has vetoed a total of 394 bills since taking office in January 2023. This includes 143 bills in 2023, 73 in 2024, and 178 in 2025. She has been a partisan veto machine from the day she took office.

Electing a Republican Governor is very important. Even with a narrow legislative majority, the Governor, if a Republican, could both advance and sign the necessary legislative actions. In addition, a strong Republican Governor could strengthen what has been a poorly organized and divided state party structure, to allow for greater success in other critical political races.

With the election next year, a conservative Republican as governor would work well with the remaining term of Donald Trump and his likely successor, J.D. Vance.

Right now, the race is just starting to heat up between Karin Taylor Robson and Congressman Andy Biggs.

The question for most of us is: who should we support in the primary?

It would be beneficial if this could be settled early, avoiding the waste of precious resources in intra-party struggles and instead saving those resources for the general election.

While either candidate would be a vast improvement over what we presently have, we at  The Prickly Pear prefer Andy Biggs, and the rest of this piece will attempt to explain why we think he is the best choice. 

We don’t know either candidate personally, so personal considerations do not influence our formulation. We believe that one candidate is more accomplished and better prepared to lead.
Karin Taylor Robson comes from a politically active family and has been a significant contributor to Republican causes.

Born on February 7, 1965, in Mesa, she grew up surrounded by politicians. Her father, Carl Kunasek, was the Arizona Senate President (1973–1975) and a state Corporation Commissioner. Her brother, Andy Kunasek, served on the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors (1997–2017).

Ms. Robson served as a staff assistant in the Reagan administration’s Economic Policy Council and the Office of Cabinet Affairs under George H.W. Bush (1988–1994). Later, she served as Executive Vice President at Scottsdale-based real estate developer DMB Associates (from 1994 to 2016). As a lawyer, she hung her shingle at Biskind, Hunt & Taylor, P.L.C., specializing in real estate, zoning, and land use law. She founded Arizona Strategies, a land-use consulting firm, and lobbied for DMB. She was also appointed to the Air Force Chief of Staff’s Civic Leader program (2005).

She has a B.A. in History and Political Science, a law degree from ASU, and served on the Board of Regents under Governor Ducey.

In this summary, you can see that, although very accomplished, most of her positions were via appointment, suggesting that her networking and family connections were utilized effectively. However, note that she has not run many successful political races. The last one she ran resulted in a defeat to Kari Lake.  The political divisions of that tight race came back to haunt the party since some Republicans crossed over and allowed the Democrats to win.

Andy Biggs is a few years older. He was born on November 7, 1958, in Tucson, Arizona. He served a Mormon mission in Japan as a young man, becoming fluent in the Language.

He also has a strong educational background. He received a B.A. degree in Asian Studies from Brigham Young University (1982), a JD from the University of Arizona (1984), and an M.A. in Political Science from Arizona State University (1999). He later worked for a law firm in New Mexico and then served as a prosecutor in Phoenix.

Then something quite odd and fortuitous happened. In 1993, he won $10 million in the American Family Publishers sweepstakes, which he used to support his family and further his career. He literally won the lottery!

He ran and won a seat in the Arizona House of Representatives (2003–2011, District 22) followed by election to the Arizona Senate (2011–2017, Districts 22 and 12), serving as Senate President (2013–2017).

Then he turned his sights on higher national office. He was elected to the U.S. House for Arizona’s 5th District (2017–present). A rising star in the Conservative movement, he became Chair of the House Freedom Caucus (2019–2022).

While in the U.S. House, he has compiled a solid voting record that shows consistency, leadership qualities, and a unifying spirit. Remarkably, he got a 93% rating from the Heritage Foundation, a 99% ranking from The Club for Growth, and a 100% rating from the Family Research Council.

In short, Andy Biggs has accomplished what Frank S. Meyer called “fusionism”, which unites the more libertarian free market view with a strong traditional morality.  Not many legislators can receive high ratings from both the Club for Growth and the Family Research Council simultaneously.

Additionally, note that he participated successfully in numerous political campaigns in the state House and Senate, as well as later in Congress. And while in Congress, he rose to a leadership position. 

While winning the lottery was no doubt helpful in allowing him to choose public service, he had to win all those races, both in primaries and the general election. Thus, he has far more electoral experience and far more political success than does Robson, who got most of her positions through appointment.  And during those political struggles, he achieved victory, demonstrating both a fighting and organizational mindset that culminated in a string of political successes.

So, both candidates are qualified, and we suspect both are very good people. However, Biggs must be given the nod because he had to win politically to advance up the political ladder and did not secure positions due to networking or family history. He is a proven scrapper, and we need that in the upcoming race.

He also has a long legislative track record that shows consistency and displays conservative principles. Robson does not have a similar record for comparison. 

Not to denigrate serving on the Board of Regents, but what did she do in that position? Did she see that our universities do not become outposts of state-sponsored indoctrination? No, the record, as far as we can tell, is silent. She did not seize the opportunity to reform our universities, which badly need a diversity of viewpoints.

In contrast, while Biggs was serving in the House, he rose to Chair the most conservative congressional organization, The Freedom Caucus. In that position, he had to withstand considerable criticism and defend himself and his principles in numerous media sessions. He proved he can handle himself.

It is absolutely vital to the future of this state that Arizona not turn purple. To avoid that calamity, we need a strong, ideologically oriented leader and one who is also successful in running political campaigns. If you don’t win, there is little chance that your ideas will be implemented.

For these reasons, we feel our best chance to win the governorship and rebuild the state party organization lies with Andy Biggs. He has consistently maintained his viewpoint, has extensive legislative experience at both state and national levels and appears to know how to run effective political campaigns.

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore