MAGA candidates keep losing in Arizona. Andy Biggs is out to break the trend

MAGA Candidates Keep Losing in Arizona: Can Andy Biggs Change the Pattern? Qwenews.com – MAGA candidates keep losing in Arizona, but Rep.

MAGA Candidates Keep Losing in Arizona: Can Andy Biggs Change the Pattern?

Qwenews.com – MAGA candidates keep losing in Arizona, but Rep. Andy Biggs hopes to break that streak. The leading Republican candidate for Arizona governor frequently reminds supporters of his collaboration with the late Sen. John McCain to pass legislation helping American Indian tribes alert authorities when children go missing.

This McCain connection stands out because other recent Republican hopefuls in Arizona have treated the iconic senator’s legacy differently. Kari Lake, the Republican nominee for governor in 2022, famously encouraged McCain Republicans to “get the hell out” of one of her campaign events. That same year, Senate nominee Blake Masters declared it was “not (McCain’s) Republican Party in Arizona anymore.” Both candidates lost their races.

Arizona’s Political Landscape: A Red State in Disguise?

Biggs’ embrace of McCain offers an early glimpse into how he intends to navigate one of the central challenges he faces if Republicans nominate him for Arizona governor in Tuesday’s primary election, as expected. A hardline conservative endorsed by President Donald Trump and a central figure in the effort to overturn the 2020 election, Biggs carries similarities with recent MAGA stalwarts who energized the Republican base — and were ultimately rejected by a majority of Arizona voters. Whether Biggs can convince voters he’s a different kind of Trump Republican than Lake and Masters could determine if the GOP can unseat Gov. Katie Hobbs, the country’s most vulnerable Democratic incumbent, or if it extends the party’s string of narrow defeats in one of the nation’s premier battleground states.

“I don’t believe Arizona is a blue state or even a purple state. It is a red state,” Biggs told CNN Friday as he shook hands with supporters at a get-out-the-vote rally. “We just have to remind people.” At the very least, the state is a redder shade of purple, with about 300,000 more registered Republicans than Democrats. Operatives on both sides of the aisle believe the state leans to the right, and Trump’s 6.5-point victory here two years ago — his largest margin among the seven battleground states — gives Republicans reason for optimism. But Lake also lost a Senate bid in that same election, an outcome that deepened the frustration of Republicans who have watched their power diminish in a state they long dominated.

It also underscored the existence of potentially hundreds of thousands of ticket splitters up for grab this November in a state where 1-in-3 voters aren’t registered to a political party. Rep. David Schweikert, who is running against Biggs in Tuesday’s primary, has argued Republicans can’t afford to gamble on another Trump-backed MAGA warrior.

Schweikert has repeatedly won one of Arizona’s most competitive congressional districts and says he would bring that track record into a general election likely to be decided by the state’s growing bloc of independent voters. During the race’s lone debate last month, he posed a question directly to Republicans watching at home. “Are you tired of losing?” On stage, Biggs doesn’t project as the kind of firebrand Lake became during her campaigns.

A former local television anchor, Lake regularly generated headlines with bombastic statements that raised eyebrows even within her own party. Nor is he as outspoken as Masters, a venture capitalist who carried into the campaign a trail of unapologetically strident and controversial views that dogged his Senate bid. A lawyer and a 67-year-old grandfather, Biggs is a Fox News regular who rarely uses oratorical flourishes.

His voice is typically measured; his rhetoric comparatively unprovocative. “He’s no Kari Lake and that does cut both ways,” said Barrett Marson, a veteran GOP strategist in Arizona. “The coverage of her wasn’t positive, but sometimes getting your name out there is half the battle. Biggs barely commands the local TV stations. He’s unexciting.” Marson, though, added: “But also unlike Kari, he’s a true conservative, and he has a long record, sometimes to his detriment.” As the chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, Biggs has served as one of Trump’s most reliable allies while also regularly frustrating House leadership with his hardline positions. Before joining Congress, he spent 14 years in the state legislature, where he earned a reputation as one of the state’s most conservative lawmakers.

That record has endeared him to voters in his ruby-red district, and it helped him secure the backing of Turning Point, the youth-focused political organization founded by the late conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Before he was killed last September, Kirk personally backed Biggs and his group, based in the Phoenix area, has vowed to put its political muscle behind the congressman, including a ballot-chasing operation that helped Trump win in 2024. Biggs has touted Kirk’s support in television advertisements.

Tyler Bowyer, who leads Turning Point’s political arm, said its operation wouldn’t be as effective behind another nominee. “You have to have the right candidate to maximize our resources,” Bowyer explained. With MAGA candidates keep losing in Arizona, Biggs sees himself as the candidate who can finally deliver victory for Republicans in the Grand Canyon State.