The Briefing
- Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer arrived in Phoenix on Tuesday to campaign alongside incumbent Gov. Katie Hobbs, uniting around reproductive rights and Latino voter mobilization as Arizona’s November 3 gubernatorial race enters its final two weeks.
- A UnidosUS poll puts Hobbs ahead of Republican Andy Biggs 52% to 21% among Arizona Latino voters, with 19% of those who backed Trump in 2024 now saying they would not do so again.
- Reproductive Freedom for All is running a $23.5 million national campaign under the “My Body. My Ballot.” banner, with Arizona identified as a top-priority state in the organization’s voter mobilization push.
With 14 days remaining before Arizona’s November 3 election, term-limited Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer touched down in Phoenix on Tuesday to stump alongside incumbent Gov. Katie Hobbs, rallying around a message that fuses reproductive rights with electoral urgency: mi cuerpo, mi voto — my body, my vote.
The visit delivers one of the Democratic Party’s most prominent voices into a toss-up contest that could redraw the Southwest’s political map heading into the 2028 presidential cycle.
A Surrogate With a Track Record
Whitmer did not land in Phoenix by chance. Two days earlier, she had campaigned in New Mexico for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Deb Haaland, the former U.S. Interior Secretary who is running to become the first Native American woman elected governor in U.S. history. Afterward, Whitmer told reporters that Arizona and Nevada were next — and she made good on that commitment.
The Michigan governor carries credentials Democrats want on the trail in a race like this. She guided her state through the successful 2022 Proposal 3, which wrote abortion access into Michigan’s constitution, and has spent recent months fighting a ballot measure that would convene a constitutional convention — a process she and reproductive rights advocates warn could strip those very protections away from Michigan voters…