'Sanity versus chaos': Arizona's Katie Hobbs pushes back against right-wing

Katie Hobbs has promised to bring on open mind to the Arizona governor’s mansion, but she has her limits.

“I will support legislation regardless of where it comes from,” Hobbs told Phoenix New Times in a recent interview.

“But I will not sign into law any legislation that attacks people’s rights and doesn’t address serious issues. There is an appetite to send me things that don’t meet those criteria, but that doesn’t mean I’m not willing to work with folks to tackle the real issues.”

Many of those things have indeed arrived at the first-term governor’s desk, and Hobbs has stood by her pledge to push back against them.

At a time when conservatives across the country are pushing measures that until recently were considered extreme, Hobbs has emerged as a bulwark.

She has vetoed 48 measures as of Wednesday, when she held a press conference commemorating her first 100 days in office.

“This election was not about Democrats versus Republicans. It was about sanity versus chaos,” Hobbs said at the conference.

According to the New Times’ Elias Weiss, “This has become her motto,” noting she’s used the slogan multiple times since Election Day in November.

“You’re going to continue to hear me say it because I’ve carried that sentiment with me to the Governor’s Office,” she said.

“Every single day, I recommit to putting partisanship aside and governing our state with commonsense, Arizona-first solutions.”

Among the measures she’s halted are a bill that would force municipalities to hold gun shows, and another requiring banks to open accounts for gun manufacturers.

On March 9, she vetoed a bill that would have prohibited K-12 public schools from including race-related material in their curriculums.

“It’s time to stop pushing students and teachers into culture wars rooted in fear-mongering and evidence-free accusation,” she said in a statement. Bills like SB 1305 serve only to divide and antagonize.”