GOP rivals in Arizona governor's race each has Trump's 'total endorsement'

In a post on his Truth Social media platform, Trump acknowledged he already said last year he was supporting Karrin Taylor Robson in her quest to be the Republican nominee to take on Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs in 2026. Robson has used the claim that she was the only Trump-endorsed candidate in virtually every one of her press releases.

But Trump said Monday that things had changed.

“I like Karrin Taylor Robson a lot,’’ he said. “And when she asked me to endorse her, with nobody else running, I endorsed her and was happy to do so.’’

But when U.S. Rep. Biggs decided he, too, hoped to be the one to take on Hobbs, “I had a problem,’’ Trump wrote, calling Biggs and Robson “two terrific people, two wonderful champions.’’

“It is therefore my Great Honor TO GIVE MY COMPLETE AND TOTAL ENDORSEMENT TO BOTH,’’ he wrote. “Either one will never let you down.’’

Robson, in a prepared statement late Monday, made no mention of Biggs and instead emphasized what the president wrote about her.

“Today, President Donald Trump reaffirmed what he told me from the rally stage in December when he urged me to run: that he supports me and has fully endorsed my America First campaign,’’ she said.

The dual endorsement comes as some polls show Biggs with an edge over Robson, who has never been elected but is campaigning on her business background in real estate and land development.

Politico reported that a poll of likely 2026 Arizona Republican voters conducted earlier this month by the anti-tax Club For Growth suggested Biggs has the backing of 45%, while Robson has 16%, and the balance undecided.

In a separate question, the survey by Pulse Decision Science of likely general election voters found Hobbs was outpolling both of them. Biggs was behind the incumbent governor by 3 percentage points; Robson trailed by 9.

Biggs, in his own social media post Monday on X, thanked Trump.

“It’s been an honor to support you and fight for your agenda since 2016,’’ he wrote, referring to the year Biggs was elected to Congress, representing the Phoenix area’s East Valley. “I look forward to fighting alongside you as governor of Arizona, the greatest state in the nation!’’

This isn’t the first time Trump’s blessing has been less than exclusive.

In the 2024 Republican primary for Congressional District 8, Trump endorsed Abe Hamadeh, only to later give his political backing also to Blake Masters. Trump declared in a social media post at that time that there were “two spectacular America First Candidates’’ in the race.

Hamadeh won the primary and, later, the general election.

In 2022, Robson made her first bid for governor, promoting herself as a moderate, but lost to Kari Lake by more than 40,000 votes; Lake, in turn, ended up losing to Hobbs by more than 17,000 votes.

This time, Robson has clearly put herself into the Trump camp.

“I cannot wait to be in the governor’s office as a partner to his conservative America First agenda,’’ she said Monday. “Onward!’’

But Biggs may have an advantage in his very visible support for the president. That includes the fact that he was one of several members of the House Freedom Caucus who greeted, at a jail, the release of those arrested in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol after they were pardoned earlier this year by Trump.

One unknown remains Republican state Treasurer Kimberly Yee, who had previously said she has been asked to consider running for governor.

She was an announced candidate for governor in 2022 before dropping out, opting instead to seek another four-year term as treasurer. That is not an option in 2026 because by law, she cannot seek a third term.

There was no immediate response Monday from Yee.