PHOENIX — Two weeks away from the start of early voting, U.S. Rep. Andy Biggs released a campaign platform with a list of policies on affordability, public safety, education, elections and health.

Biggs, the Republican nominee for governor, said his policy agenda is focused on an Arizona “where every Arizonan can dream big.” The state has taken a wrong turn under Gov. Katie Hobbs, he said.

“We have dropped in affordability. We’ve dropped in job growth,” he said. “Education freedom has been under constant attack, and we have a fentanyl overdose crisis. We have scandal and corruption.”

Biggs framed the election as a crucial choice for the state’s future.

“We can continue on the path that Katie Hobbs has put us on to look like California, or we can pivot to look like the free state of Florida,” he said.

Biggs and his running mate, former state Sen. Sine Kerr, talked about their platform on the lawn outside the Arizona Senate, which Biggs led for four years before being elected to Congress.

He blamed the state’s affordability crisis on Hobbs, saying Congress and President Donald Trump are not at fault. Arizona has gone from being a Top 3 state in affordability to the bottom five, he said.

“We have to take care of additional policy issues and problems that this governor has foisted upon the state,” Biggs said.

The cost of housing is a major factor but, according to data from the Common Sense Institute, a lack of new construction in the nearly two decades since the Great Recession is responsible. And home prices in Arizona skyrocketed in the two years after the pandemic – before Hobbs took office in 2023.

Hobbs has said Biggs’ support for Trump’s economic policies, such as tariffs and the war in Iran, are making life more unaffordable.

Biggs promised to end Hobbs’ moratorium on homebuilding in the fast-growing West Valley and to begin phasing out the state income tax. Eliminating Arizona’s income tax won’t mean increases to other taxes or cuts to state agencies, he said.

“I have every confidence that as we manage it and we incrementally bring this down, you’re going to see more economic activity, which will result in more … tax revenue coming into the state,” he said.

What’s on Biggs’ platform

Biggs’ platform includes a number of conservative policies, such as making raw milk – milk that has not been pasteurized – available at restaurants, banning the use of federal food assistance dollars on soda and requiring commercial truck drivers who are foreign nationals to prove legal status. He also vowed to sign legislation Hobbs vetoed, such as changes to Arizona’s election laws and government transparency measures.

“We will require companies bidding on state contracts or requesting a raise in their rates to disclose contributions made to political candidates or entities,” Kerr said.

Republicans have slammed Hobbs over pay-for-play allegations involving a group-home operator that received a rate hike following donations to Hobbs’ inaugural fund and the Arizona Democratic Party. Attorney General Kris Mayes, whose office conducted a two-year investigation into the matter, said evidence did not support bribery charges.

Biggs also said he would protect and expand Empowerment Scholarship Accounts, the state’s school voucher program, and reset state standards on math and reading.

He also said he would pursue a renewal of Proposition 123 along with mandates to put “dollars directly into the classroom.”

Prop. 123 was a voter-approved initiative that temporarily increased the amount of money the State Land Trust sends to K-12 schools to cover legally required funding. The 2016 measure expired last year, and lawmakers have backfilled the roughly $300 million out of the state’s General Fund.

Hobbs and Republican lawmakers have been at odd for years over how to renew Prop. 123, from how high the distribution from the fund should be to how schools should be allowed to spend the money.

Democrats slam Biggs over Medicaid

Meanwhile, Democrats criticized Biggs over his 2011 proposal as a state senator to terminate the state’s Medicaid system, the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System, or AHCCCS.

“Cutting Medicaid doesn’t make people stop getting sick, it just makes access to medical care harder to achieve,” said Dr. Edmond Baker, a Phoenix OB/GYN.

Biggs backed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, a federal tax law Trump signed last year that also slashed spending for Medicaid.

Baker and House Minority Leader Oscar De Los Santos said the cuts threaten access to health care, particularly in rural areas.

And Medicaid cuts end up affecting everyone, Baker said, pointing to the closures of eight clinics and a Tucson hospital. Another eight hospitals could cut services or close, he said.

“When your hospital closes, it doesn’t matter whether you’re on AHCCCS, Medicare or even have private insurance,” he said. “Your hospital is closed.”

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