Governor Katie Hobbs Calls for Writing a New Chapter in Arizona’s History

Despite heightened security and a small group of off-ground protestors at the Arizona State Capitol today, it was a day of renewal, new opportunities, and celebration at the ceremonial inaugurations of Governor Katie Hobbs, Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, Attorney General  Kris Mayes, Treasurer Kimberly Yee, and Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne.

All five had been sworn in, per the State Constitution, on Monday, January 2, 2023, in a private ceremony.

Each speaker discussed their ideas for building a better tomorrow for Arizona and Arizonans.

Superintendent Tom Horne, despite using the same misinformation on test scores that he did during the campaign, pledged to work with the Governor, Attorney General, and Legislature to pass legislation to improve the classroom environment and student achievement.

Treasurer Kimberly Yee, for the second inaugural speech in a row, told the inspiring story of her family’s history of setting up new roots as Chinese Immigrants in America, calling Arizona “the Golden Mountain” where a person can do anything if they work hard enough.

Governor Hobbs Calls for Everyone to Unite to Write a New Chapter in Arizona’s History.

For the victorious Democrats, the themes of the day were unity, protecting Democracy, and moving the state and the people forward.

Governor Katie Hobbs projected opportunism and unity in her inaugural address, calling for her administration, the legislature, and Arizonans to unite and help write a new chapter in Arizona’s history together.

She thanked the voters for choosing unity over division and “wanting to build an Arizona that works for everyone.”

Saying “now was the time for leadership and real solutions that create meaningful change,” Governor Hobbs said her “door will always be open” to everyone that wants to work together to find “real change.”

In perhaps a preview of the priorities she will outline in her State of State Address next week, she noted several policy objectives for her term including:

• Providing good paying jobs.
• Lifting up those left behind.
• Defending reproductive freedom (that position generated the greatest applause from the attendees in both Governor Hobbs’s and Attorney General Mayes’s addresses.)
• Supporting public safety.
• Promoting safe and affordable housing.
• Safeguarding elections.
• Protecting forests and public lands.
• Securing the water supply.

She completed her address with the themes she outlined at the beginning calling for everyone to unite to build Arizona together and that the “promise of tomorrow can only be achieved by meeting the challenge of today. Let’s get to work.”

Fontes and Mayes Echo Hobbs’s Call for Unity.

In their inaugural addresses, both Secretary of State Adrian Fontes and Attorney General Mayes pledged the same call for unity conveyed by Governor Hobbs.

Telling the moving story of how a Nogales rancher community banded together to do the right thing and help a struggling farmer keep his cattle, Fontes thanked all the community of Republicans, Independents, and Democrats who banded together to do the right thing in taking him to victory in November and protect Democracy.

He pledged to work with Governor Hobbs and Attorney General Hayes in continuing to protect Democracy and go after the election denying “domestic terrorists” that have harassed public servants like Republican Maricopa County Supervisor Bill Gates and Recorder Steven Richter.

Attorney General Mayes had perhaps the most electric speech of the inaugural addresses. Blending the tone of the campaign with energized seriousness and humor (the line about thanking the 280 people that provided the winning margin to her was priceless when she said that it proved “every vote matters,”) she also thanked all her supporters and campaign team across the state, saying “We did it Arizona, The future of democracy ran through this state and Arizona came through.”

Ms. Mayes also vowed to “go to work every single day making Arizona a better and safer place for all of us” and pledged to “work for those” who did not vote for her.

She also pledged to follow through on all her campaign promises which included:

• protecting the most vulnerable.
• protecting the state’s water supply.
• protecting bodily autonomy.
• Increased outreach to rural communities.
• being transparent and leading with integrity.

The Attorney General finished by calling for moving forward with “less divisiveness and less vitriol, country over party…” and to “lead with love over hate…strength over cowardice.”