{"id":5388,"date":"2025-01-28T02:20:36","date_gmt":"2025-01-28T02:20:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/jan-6-proponent-andy-biggs-is-running-for-arizona-governor\/"},"modified":"2025-01-28T02:20:36","modified_gmt":"2025-01-28T02:20:36","slug":"jan-6-proponent-andy-biggs-is-running-for-arizona-governor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/jan-6-proponent-andy-biggs-is-running-for-arizona-governor\/","title":{"rendered":"Jan. 6 proponent Andy Biggs is running for Arizona governor"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>Republican <a href=\"https:\/\/www.msnbc.com\/rachel-maddow-show\/maddowblog\/gop-reps-gosar-biggs-reportedly-receive-subpoenas-arizona-rcna146567\" target=\"_blank\">Rep. Andy Biggs<\/a> of Arizona announced Saturday that he is running for governor in 2026.<\/p>\n<p>Biggs, a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.huffpost.com\/entry\/andy-biggs-fact-check-live-on-air_n_641ec9f1e4b0dd51111d5209\" target=\"_blank\"> Jan. 6 p<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.huffpost.com\/entry\/andy-biggs-fact-check-live-on-air_n_641ec9f1e4b0dd51111d5209\" target=\"_blank\">r<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.huffpost.com\/entry\/andy-biggs-fact-check-live-on-air_n_641ec9f1e4b0dd51111d5209\" target=\"_blank\"> opponent<\/a> and member of the far-right House Freedom Caucus, made the announcement at an Arizona Republican Party event, <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/andybiggs4az\/status\/1883324263383650552\" target=\"_blank\">telling the crowd<\/a>: &ldquo;I am jumping in formally. It is now time to Make Arizona Great Again.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Biggs, who <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/congress\/trump-team-orchestrated-fake-electors-try-overturn-election-jan-6-comm-rcna34605\" target=\"_blank\">helped Trump<\/a> in his attempt to overturn the 2020 election, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsmax.com\/newsmax-tv\/andy-biggs-governor-arizona\/2025\/01\/26\/id\/1196586\/\" target=\"_blank\">told <\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsmax.com\/newsmax-tv\/andy-biggs-governor-arizona\/2025\/01\/26\/id\/1196586\/\" target=\"_blank\">the conservative outlet <\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsmax.com\/newsmax-tv\/andy-biggs-governor-arizona\/2025\/01\/26\/id\/1196586\/\" target=\"_blank\"> Newsmax<\/a> in an interview on Sunday that Arizona should be &ldquo;the reddest state in the country.&rdquo; His election would certainly be a step toward claiming that title. <\/p>\n<p>Biggs is alleged to have been <a href=\"https:\/\/www.phoenixnewtimes.com\/news\/congressman-andy-biggs-coordinated-with-mark-finchem-before-capitol-riot-11532527\" target=\"_blank\">a key player<\/a> in the deliberations among MAGA activists, Trump administration officials and far-right lawmakers who devised schemes for overturning Trump&rsquo;s 2020 election. After the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, for example, far-right activist Ali Alexander &mdash; who organized the &ldquo;stop the steal&rdquo; rally that preceded the riot &mdash; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/nation\/2021\/01\/13\/ali-alexander-capitol-biggs-gosar\/\" target=\"_blank\">has said Biggs was one of the lawmakers who helped him<\/a> cook up that day&rsquo;s plan to exert &ldquo;maximum pressure on Congress while they were voting&rdquo; to certify Joe Biden&rsquo;s election victory, though Biggs hasn&rsquo;t been accused of coordinating or promoting the violent attack on the Capitol. (Biggs has denied helping Alexander organize the Jan. 6 rally.)<\/p>\n<p>Video here:<\/p>\n<p>Alexander later <a href=\"https:\/\/abcnews.go.com\/Politics\/stop-steal-organizer-ali-alexander-told-jan-committee\/story?id=81837303\" target=\"_blank\">testified to the House Jan. 6 committee<\/a> that he&rsquo;d been in contact with Biggs and other lawmakers in the lead-up to Jan. 6, 2021, which Biggs had denied. And former White House staffer Cassidy Hutchinson <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2022\/06\/23\/1107192874\/republicans-trump-pardons-jan-6\" target=\"_blank\">told the committee<\/a> Biggs was one of multiple lawmakers who sought a pardon from Trump, which <a href=\"https:\/\/www.azcentral.com\/story\/opinion\/op-ed\/ej-montini\/2022\/06\/28\/rep-andy-biggs-pardon-denial-jan-6-committee\/7753311001\/\" target=\"_blank\">Biggs has also denied<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>It&rsquo;s worth noting, however, that Alexander and Hutchinson made their claims under oath, which Biggs does not appear to have done. He <a href=\"https:\/\/www.azcentral.com\/story\/news\/politics\/arizona\/2022\/12\/19\/rep-andy-biggs-referred-to-house-ethics-committee-over-subpoena\/69741383007\/\" target=\"_blank\">refused to comply with a House subpoena<\/a> to testify as part of the <em>federal <\/em>Jan. 6 investigation, but has been <a href=\"https:\/\/www.azcentral.com\/story\/opinion\/op-ed\/laurieroberts\/2024\/04\/04\/andy-biggs-paul-gosar-subpoena-arizona-fake-elector-case\/73209199007\/\" target=\"_blank\">subpoenaed by Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes to testify<\/a> in her ongoing, state-level Jan. 6 probe. There&rsquo;s no indication Mayes is pursuing criminal charges against Biggs, and it&rsquo;s unclear whether he has testified.<\/p>\n<p>The representative celebrated Trump&rsquo;s blanket pardon for Jan. 6 criminals, even <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/donald-trump\/live-blog\/trump-agenda-executive-orders-live-updates-rcna188511#rcrd70069\" target=\"_blank\">greeting some of the recently released inmates<\/a> and their supporters at a Washington, D.C., jail last week.<\/p>\n<p>Biggs is the only Republican to declare his candidacy in the governor&rsquo;s race thus far. Barring a successful primary challenge, he is likely to face Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs next year. <\/p>\n<p><br class><\/div>\n<div data-activity-map=\"expanded-byline-article-bottom\">\n<div data-testid=\"byline-thumbnail\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.msnbc.com\/author\/jahan-jones-ncpn371241\" tabindex=\"-1\"><picture data-testid=\"picture\"><source media=\"(min-width: 320px)\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_focal-60x60,f_auto,q_auto:best\/newscms\/2021_37\/3505463\/jahan-jones-msnbc_1.png\" alt height=\"48\" width=\"48\"><\/source><\/picture><\/a><\/div>\n<p><span data-testid=\"byline-name\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.msnbc.com\/author\/jahan-jones-ncpn371241\"> Ja&#8217;han Jones<\/a><\/span><span><a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/_Jahan\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Ja&rsquo;han Jones is The ReidOut Blog writer. He&rsquo;s a futurist and multimedia producer focused on culture and politics. His previous projects include &ldquo;Black Hair Defined&rdquo; and the &ldquo;Black Obituary Project.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.msnbc.com\/the-reidout\/reidout-blog\/andy-biggs-arizona-governor-jan-6-trump-rcna189506\" class=\"button purchase\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Republican Rep. Andy Biggs of Arizona announced Saturday that he is running for governor in 2026. Biggs, a Jan. 6 pr opponent and member of the far-right House Freedom Caucus, made the announcement at an Arizona Republican Party event, telling the crowd: &ldquo;I am jumping in formally. It is now time to Make Arizona Great [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5389,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5388","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-trump"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5388","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5388"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5388\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5389"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5388"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5388"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5388"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}