Arizona Governor 2026: the ads, and who's paying for them
Katie Hobbs (Democrat), Andy Biggs (Republican), Risa Lombardo (Green) and Teri Hourihan (No Labels) are the candidates for governor of Arizona in the November 3, 2026 general election. Katie Hobbs is the incumbent. Semblen has analyzed 15 ads in this race; 11 used at least one manipulation technique, most often appeal to fear and name calling.
Katie Hobbs (DEM, incumbent), Andy Biggs (REP), Risa Lombardo (GRE), Teri Hourihan (NLP).
On the ballot as listed by Ballotpedia. 15 ads analyzed, 11 with at least one technique in the copy.
Newest first. The paid-for-by line is the advertiser's own filing. Updated 2026-10-08.
10 of 14 (71%) flagged · Appeal to Fear (6), Name Calling (5), Loaded Language (4)
YouTube
1 of 1 flagged · Appeal to Fear (1), Appeal to Prejudice (1), Exaggeration/Hyperbole (1)
Reported Meta spend
$9,600–35,847 on all ads, $9,200–27,725 on flagged ads · Meta reports ranges; these are the sums of their ends
Example
“a safer Arizona” — Appeal to Fear, paid for by TURNING POINT PAC INC.
· the flagged ad with the highest reported spend that shows the most common technique
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Leaving out the softer ones (loaded language, glittering generalities, slogans, exaggeration, repetition): 67% of ads.
The words doing the work
The words that show up most in phrases our model flagged as loaded language or name calling in this race's ads, by number of ads.
MAGAin 3 ads· e.g. “MAGA Republicans”, “MAGA allies”
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Money in this race
Candidates for governor report their fundraising to Arizona's state campaign-finance office, not the FEC. This page doesn't cover those reports yet, so it shows no money figures.
The ads
15 ads, newest first. Video transcripts are shown as the model read them, without caption cues like [music].
Showing the 1 ad paid for by Living United for Change in Arizona. Show all 15 ads
Paid for by Living United for Change in Arizonafrom 2026-10-07 to 2026-10-08spend $0–996,000–6,999 impressions
Katie Hobbs is delivering for working families fighting to lower costs, creating good jobs, and shaping a stronger Arizona. Re-elect Katie for governor.
Glittering Generalities: Vague, emotionally positive phrases are used without specific policy details or evidence — for example: 'delivering for working families', 'good jobs', 'stronger Arizona'
Bandwagon Appeal: The imperative 're-elect' implies broad popular support and encourages conformity with an assumed consensus — for example: 'Re-elect Katie for governor'
Glittering Generalities
Bandwagon Appeal
Looks up the ad's factual claims in fact-checkers, primary sources and wire reporting. Takes up to a minute.
An email when new ads come in from either side or the outside groups: the techniques, the words doing the work, and who paid. And each debate's analysis the morning after. One-click unsubscribe.
An ad is on this page because its own "Paid for by" line is a campaign in this race; or it ran mostly in AZ and names a nominee for governor — unless its sponsor is a campaign for some other office (a U.S. Senate or House campaign included), or it also names AZ's Senate nominees, in which case it is on the Senate race's page. Ads from outside groups appear alongside the campaigns' own.
The candidates are the ones certified for the November ballot, from the source linked at the top. Governors are state offices, so there are no FEC filings behind this page: no money figures, and outside groups are placed on a side only when they are a campaign or a party committee.
Campaigns run one text as many separate ads. Identical text from the same sponsor is one card here, marked with its number of variants.
A technique is a specific manipulative move in the wording, found by our model and explained in one line. It is not a claim that the ad is false.
Claims are checked when a reader asks: press "Check this ad's claims" on a card. The check runs once and its result is shown to everyone afterwards. The ten ads with the most money behind them in each race are checked ahead of time.
Claim verdicts say what the cited sources say. A verdict that an ad is wrong or misleading is shown only when it cites an established fact-checker or an institutional record — Congress, a federal agency, a court — and its confidence is not low; a weaker one is not shown at all. Each verdict shows what it rests on and how confident it is. If we got one wrong, press Disagree: a verdict that readers dispute and no one defends comes down.
Video ads come from the campaigns' own YouTube channels; the transcript is analyzed. Meta ads are analyzed on their text; their video and images are not, yet.
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