But several of the most conservative members of Arizona’s House of Representatives walked out or turned their backs on the Democratic governor during her first State of the State address.
Hobbs received a standing ovation from Democratic lawmakers while revealing plans to increase funding for public education and to address the state’s water crisis, according to a report from the Arizona Republic. However, when the Democratic leader reiterated her support for abortion access in the state, members of the Arizona Freedom Caucus chose to walk out of the chamber.
“Katie Hobbs utilized the time-honored State of the State Address to once against promote her radical, woke policy initiatives, rather than address the profoundly serious concerns that Arizonans have regarding the political and fiscal realities of daily life,” the Freedom Caucus wrote in a statement posted to their Twitter account Monday evening.
Representative Rachel Jones, also a member of the Freedom Caucus, said on Twitter that she left during the governor’s address because, “There are too many questions left unanswered, litigation still moving through the courts, and many concerns about the border, not pronouns.”
“This is why I immediately left the House Floor after the start of the State of the State,” Jones added. “I promised to be the voice of the people, and I will never break that promise.”
Representative Alexander Kolodin, who also walked out, tweeted that he took time during the speech to meet with Hanna Zack Miley, a Holocaust survivor who was invited to speak before Hobbs’ address. According to his post, Kolodin then began working on “legislation of importance to the people of Arizona” with Representative Jacqueline Parker, vice chair of the Freedom Caucus and one of the group’s founding members.
State Senators Anthony Kern and Justine Wadsock—also of the conservative caucus— protested by standing and turning their backs to Hobbs while she delivered her speech. Arizona Mirror reporter Jim Small reposted a photo of the scene on Twitter while covering the State of the State.
The speech by Hobbs on Monday marked the first day in office for the 56th Arizona Legislature. Her rise to the governor’s office has been contested by state Republicans, including former gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake, who reiterated on Monday her intentions to remove Hobbs from office, in the wake of several failed lawsuits that contested the election results.
Lake’s campaign said on Twitter Monday that impeachment proceedings against Hobbs should begin once she signs an order mandating the use of pronouns in public classrooms, claiming that such an order is “blatantly unconstitutional.”
Hobbs is not seeking to mandate the use of pronouns, but Republicans have proposed a bill that would prohibit teachers from addressing students by their preferred gender pronouns without parental consent. As Newsweek previously reported, Hobbs would have power as governor to veto such a bill.
“I’m still optimistic that we can find common ground on a lot of the issues that we talked about,” Hobbs told reporters after her address, according to the Republic’s report.
“It’s unfortunate that some members chose an immature stunt instead,” she continued. “We have really tough issues in front of us and we need to work together to solve them.”
Newsweek has reached out to Hobbs’ office for comment.
