PHOENIX — Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs finally broke her silence following President Biden’s meeting with Democratic governors last week — with remarks very different from the positive spin she previously put on her fellow Democrat’s rough debate performance last month.
“That’s up to the president,” she said at a media availability Wednesday when The Post asked if he should continue at the top of the Democratic ticket.
Hobbs declined to get into details about the “private” meeting but said the president must address concerns about his viability as a candidate going forward.
“I know that Arizonans have been concerned about the president’s age, and since the debate, I think those concerns are even more top of mind, and I think the president has a lot to do to assure Arizonans and Americans. And I know that he knows that that is his job over the coming weeks.”
The Post reported last week that the governor did not want to comment on the meeting, as insiders said “top-down” messaging was coming from the Biden campaign to present a united front. Biden maintains he will be the nominee as dissent continues among the Democratic ranks in Washington.
“Joe Biden can do the job, and that’s all I’m gonna to say about the situation,” Hobbs said before being asked whether he should remain the nominee. The governor, who will not be up for re-election until 2026, said her main focus is not the presidential race but to win Democratic majorities in the state Legislature, as Republicans maintain narrow control of both chambers.
Still, Hobbs made sure to take some jabs at Biden’s opponent, former President Donald Trump.
“I have one vote in this election just like everyone else. And to me, the choice is abundantly clear. The guy who’s gonna uphold democracy and the guy who’s trying to tear it down,” she said.
Hobbs shared the same sentiment that the choice is clear on KPNX-12’s “Sunday Square Off” right after last month’s debate but said nothing about aging concerns. She also echoed the line shared by Biden and his surrogates not to “compare him to the Almighty” but instead look at “the alternative.”
The Post reported Biden surrogates in Arizona remained steadfast in their support for the president Monday, including one saying a threat from the “Washington elite” to replace Biden on the ticket is no “different than what Trump did leading up to January 6th.”
Polls, meanwhile, continue to show Trump has a slight lead in Arizona, a fiercely competitive state. Cook Political Report moved the Grand Canyon State to “Lean Republican” Tuesday in its Electoral College predictions, and the former president has a 5.4% average lead in recent head-to-head polling, per RealClearPolitics.