PHOENIX — Karrin Taylor Robson remains out front with the most money in the bank among the three Republicans who hope to take on Gov. Katie Hobbs in November.
New campaign finance reports show Robson had more than $1.2 million cash on hand as of the end of the year.
But the business owner and former lobbyist also has been spending a lot in her bid for the GOP nomination, including on an extensive media campaign that most prominently cites her endorsement from President Donald Trump. Her overall expenses are listed at $3.6 million.
Part of the reason Robson has been able to do this is that she put $2.2 million of her own money into the campaign.
Still, that's far less than the $16.9 million of her own money Robson spent in an ill-fated attempt to be the Republican nominee for governor in 2022. She lost that race to Kari Lake, who, in turn, lost to Democrat Hobbs.
Robson also has the benefit of some outside spending on her behalf, with nearly $450,000 put into her current campaign by Building a Better Arizona. That is a political action committee, chaired by former Arizona Senate President Karen Fann, specifically to help Robson get the nomination for governor.
U.S. Rep. Andy Biggs, who entered the GOP primary race after Robson, has so far taken in more than $1.9 million.
His expenses are less than Robson's, coming in at about $1.1 million. That leaves him with about $783,000 in the bank; he doesn't have the personal cash to spend that she does.
Like Robson, though, he has an outside boost: Turning Point PAC reports it has spent more than $458,000 of its money trying to get Biggs elected.
The Republican gubernatorial candidate with the smallest amount of cash on hand is U.S. Rep. David Schweikert, with less than $279,000.
From left to right, Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs, and Republican candidates for Arizona governor, Rep. Andy Biggs, Karrin Taylor Robson and Rep. David Schweikert.
He got a later start than the other two, having jumped into the political contest in October.
But Schweikert did get a jump start of sorts, with a transfer of more than $577,000 from what he had set aside for his originally planned congressional reelection campaign.
Like Robson, he also is providing some self-help, putting $99,000 of his own money into his campaign.
He, too, is benefiting from outside help. A political action committee known as Win Arizona is spending $55,500 trying to get him nominated.
All of the GOP fundraising is dwarfed by the war chest Hobbs is accumulating.
Since the beginning of 2025, she has taken in more than $5.7 million.
That, however, doesn't paint a full picture.
The governor started raising money for the 2026 race immediately after winning in 2022 over Lake. Hobbs' campaign says that, all totaled, she has raised $15 million.
Hobbs has also been spending heavily in her bid for another four-year term. Even with that, however, she reports nearly $6.2 million in the bank.
She has something else: Copper State Values, a political action committee set up and run by Nicole DeMont, who is also managing her reelection campaign.
Unlike her own campaign, this committee can accept large individual and corporate donations and has, including $75,000 from Nextera Energy, which builds and operates power plants and transmission lines; $50,000 from the Arizona Beverage Association, comprised of companies that make and sell nonalcoholic drinks; and $100,000 from Marcia Grand, identified as a retired Tucsonan.
Because of the size of those donations, Hobbs cannot use them directly in her reelection effort. But the money can be directed at broader efforts to help elect all Democrats for things like get-out-the-vote campaigns.
And it is sharing certain campaign expenses with the governor's own campaign.
Of note, though, is that Copper State Values is spreading the money beyond Arizona, including sending $1.1 million to the Democratic Party of Virginia.
