By Howard Fischer
Capitol Media Services
PHOENIX -- Karrin Taylor Robson remains out front with the most money in the bank among the three Republicans who hope to take on Katie Hobbs in November.
New campaign finance reports show that Robson has 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 what has been an extensive media campaign which most prominently cites her endorsement by President Trump. Overall expenses are listed at $3.6 million.
Part of the reason Robson has been able to do this is she put $2.2 million of her own cash into the campaign.
Still, that's far less than the $16.9 million of her own money she spent in an ill-fated attempt to be the Republican nominee for governor in 2022 only to lose to Kari Lake. And Lake, in turn, lost to Hobbs.
Robson also has the benefit of some outside spending on her behalf, with nearly $450,000 put in by Building a Better Arizona. That is a political action committee, chaired by former Senate President Karen Fann, specifically to help Robson get the nomination.
Congressman Andy Biggs, who entered the race after Robson, has so far taken in more than $1.9 million in the race.
His expenses are less than Robson, coming in at about $1.1 million. But without the personal cash that she has, that leaves him with about $783,000 in the bank.
And, like Robson, he he has something else giving him a boost: Turning Point PAC is reporting it has spent more than $458,000 of its own money to get Biggs elected.
The Republican candidate with the smallest cash on hand is Congressman David Schweikert, with less than $279,000.
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.
Such transfers are possible -- albeit with limits.
Federal law allows individuals to give up to $7,000. But the federal limit is $5,500.
That means only the part of each person's contribution up to $5,500 can be moved to his gubernatorial bid.
Like Robson, he also is providing some self help, putting $99,000 of is own cash into his campaign.
And he, too, is benefiting from outside help from a political action committee known as Win Arizona which is spending $55,500 to get him nominated.
All of the GOP fundraising is dwarfed by the warchest that Hobbs is accumulating.
Since just 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 by 17,117 votes. And her campaign says that, all totaled, she has raised $15 million.
But Hobbs also has been spending heavily in a bid for another four-year term. Even with that, however, she reports nearly $6.2 million in the bank.
The governor has something else: Copper State Values, a political action committee set up and run by Nicole DeMont who also is managing her reelection campaign. And, unlike her own campaign, this committee can accept large individual and corporate donations, like $75,000 from Nextera Energy which builds and operates power plants and transmission lines, $50,000 from the Arizona Beverage Association composed of companies that make and sell non-alcoholic 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 dollars 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.
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