Some of Governor Katie Hobbs’ biggest supporters, including many of her most reliable media cheerleaders, are openly criticizing her after a video was made public of her again dodging reporters. Reporter Dennis Welch of AZFamily.com posted the video on Twitter and it quickly went viral.
Arizona Republic columnist, Laurie Roberts, who critics say, “runs cover for Hobbs,” tweeted: “This is a bad look for a governor…”
This is a bad look for a governor… https://t.co/zF4dAwWzRC
— Laurie Roberts (@LaurieRoberts) May 2, 2023
In her short tenure, Hobbs has not maintained the cozy relationship she had with the media during the 2022 election cycle. In fact, the last time Hobbs took questions from the press was in March, just before a scandal hit her administration’s communications team. Hobbs’ former press secretary, Josselyn Berry, was forced out in the wake of her violent message on Twitter the same day of the tragic mass shooting in Nashville by a transman.
Berry tweeted an image that appeared to suggest violence toward people she deemed “transphobes” mere hours after a transman killed three adults and three young children at a Christian school in Nashville.
Hobbs’ communications director Murphy Hebert quietly left as well, and just this week announced that she was hired by Secretary of State Adrian Fontes to serve as his Deputy Assistant Secretary of State.
Since then, Hobbs has put her fellow Democrats in difficult positions trying to defend her vetoes of popular bipartisan bills. While they have held the line for Hobbs, Capitol insiders say the Democratic Caucus is fraying at the edges.