The Man Who Wouldn’t Certify Now Wants to Run the Certification
Andy Biggs just won Arizona. The election is in November–but 2028 is what’s actually on the table.
The Man Who Wouldn’t Certify Now Wants to Run the Certification
Andy Biggs just won Arizona. The election is in November–but 2028 is what’s actually on the table.
The Jack Hopkins Now Newsletter #978: Wednesday, July 22nd, 2026
Let’s orient ourselves.
This is not simply a story about who may become Arizona’s next governor. No, no, no.
It is a story…about who could be positioned inside the machinery of the 2028 presidential election…and what happens if the people operating that machinery…refuse to accept the voters’ decision.
To understand the threat…we need to go back to December 2022.
Cochise County, Arizona.
Two Republican county supervisors refused to certify the election results. The votes had been counted. There was no evidence that the tally was wrong.
They simply folded their arms and said no.
A judge had to order them to perform their legal duty.
Think about what that means.
In the United States, in the twenty-first century…it required a court order to make elected officials sign a document confirming what voters had already decided.
Hold that image in your mind.
Because Arizona Republicans have now nominated for governor…a man who participated in the federal version of that same refusal.
ORIENTATION: What Just Happened
Andy Biggs won the Republican nomination for governor of Arizona.
It wasn’t close.
He took more than 70 percent of the vote…crushing Congressman David Schweikert and riding Donald Trump’s endorsement and Turning Point USA’s political machinery through the primary.
Biggs will now face Democratic Governor Katie Hobbs in November…in a swing state and one of the most consequential elections in the country.
The political press will cover it as a conventional governor’s race:
Taxes.
The border.
Schools.
Housing.
The cost of living.
Those issues matter.
But…they are not the entire election. Oh, hell no.
The question most voters must be taught to ask is this:
What authority will Arizona’s next governor possess during the 2028 presidential election?
That is where the real stakes begin.
DOCTRINE: Never Evaluate an Election Only by the Office Being Filled
Here is the doctrine:
When an election denier seeks an office…involved in administering…certifying…or validating elections…evaluate the candidacy by the power of the office…not merely by the title on the ballot.
Arizona is not just another state in presidential politics.
It was the tip of the spear in 2020. A very ugly tip.
Arizona was where fake electors assembled. It was where “Kraken” litigation …attempted to invalidate lawful votes. It became one of the principal testing grounds…for turning a candidate’s defeat at the ballot box…into victory on paper.
The governor is woven into the process through which Arizona’s presidential results become official:
The canvass…certifications…and documents…transforming millions of individual votes into electoral votes.
So…whom did Arizona Republicans nominate to occupy that office?
Andy Biggs voted against accepting Electoral College votes from Arizona and other battleground states after the 2020 election. He assisted Trump’s effort to prevent the certification of an election Trump lost.
Read that again carefully:
The certification of the 2020 election is precisely what Biggs attempted to obstruct. Now he wants an office positioned inside the certification process in 2028.
That does not automatically prove what Biggs would do four years from now.
But…it establishes the risk beyond any reasonable doubt.
Past conduct is an indicator.
Power is an opportunity.
When the same person…acquires both…attention is mandatory.
SIGNAL: He Isn’t Running Alone
This is the part of the story that changes its meaning.
On the same night…Arizona Republicans nominated Biggs for governor…they nominated Alexander Kolodin for secretary of state.
That office is not adjacent to election administration.
It is the center of it.
Arizona’s secretary of state is the state’s chief election officer…with responsibilities involving voting systems…statewide election results and certification.
Kolodin is an attorney who led lawsuits seeking to overturn the 2020 and 2022 election results. Judges and the Arizona State Bar rebuked his conduct. He participated in the “Kraken” litigation…represented fake electors and pursued efforts to disqualify mail-in ballots.
The State Bar of Arizona sanctioned him in 2023.
Now…he wants to become Arizona’s chief election officer…during the approach to the 2028 presidential election.
Put the two races beside each other:
The man who opposed certification wants the governor’s office.
The man who litigated against election results and represented fake electors wants the secretary of state’s office.
Both offices will be positioned inside Arizona’s 2028 election machinery.
The prize is one of America’s most contested collections of electoral votes.
These are not two unrelated candidacies.
They are two access points to the same system.
That is the signal.
SIGNAL: Biggs Has Become Quieter
Biggs spent years casting doubt on the 2020 election.
Now, facing a competitive statewide election…he has stepped away from that subject.
Some will interpret the silence as moderation.
I don’t.
Political candidates understand sequencing. They know which messages excite primary voters…and which frighten independents. They know when to display their most extreme commitments…and when to put them back in the drawer.
The question is not whether Biggs talks about overturning elections every day.
The question is whether he has ever repudiated what he did.
Has he acknowledged that Joe Biden legitimately won the 2020 election?
Has he admitted that his vote against certification was wrong?
Has he promised unequivocally to certify Arizona’s results in 2028 regardless of which candidate wins?
Until those answers are clear…silence is not reassurance.
Silence is an indicator.
CONTINUITY: Cochise County Was a Rehearsal
This is why I began with Cochise County.
The refusal there did not ultimately succeed. A court intervened. The supervisors were ordered to certify…and the lawful result survived.
That can create a dangerous sense of comfort.
The system worked.
Yes…but only because someone attempted to break it…someone else challenged them… and a functioning court…still possessed enough authority to force compliance.
Continuity means carrying the lesson forward.
What happens when election denial is no longer confined to two county supervisors?
What happens when it reaches the governor’s office?
What happens when it reaches the secretary of state’s office?
What happens when multiple officials act together…each using a different portion of the process to delay…cloud…contest or obstruct the final result?
And…what happens if the courts themselves…are less willing…or less able…to stop them?
Cochise County was not proof that the danger was imaginary.
It was proof that refusal is possible.
It demonstrated how little is required to create a certification crisis: not fraudulent ballots…compromised machines or foreign interference.
Just officials holding the pens who decide not to sign.
IDENTITY: What People Who Understand the Stakes Do Now
I am not writing this to make you angry for the afternoon.
Anger is cheap. It burns hot…produces a few posts and disappears by dinner.
Orientation must lead to action.
Right now…this is still a campaign.
It is persuadable.
It is winnable.
Katie Hobbs has already demonstrated that a Democrat can win statewide in Arizona…by holding the Democratic coalition…winning independents…and attracting Republicans who understand…that loyalty to the Constitution must come before loyalty to Donald Trump.
But voters cannot act on stakes they do not recognize.
Most Arizonans will be told that they are voting on taxes…schools…immigration and prices. They may never be told that they are also choosing who will occupy crucial positions when Arizona determines the winner of the 2028 presidential election.
Our responsibility is to make those stakes visible before people vote…not after the certification crisis begins.
People who protect democracy do not wait until the alarm is screaming.
They recognize the signal while it is still quiet.
ACTION DESK: Before You Close This
Do three things.
First:
Send this to three people who live in Arizona…or who love someone who does.
Not thirty strangers.
Three actual people you can contact again.
Second:
Track both races.
The press will concentrate on the governor’s contest because it sits at the top of the ballot. Do not lose sight of the secretary of state’s race one line below it.
The greatest leverage may be located there.
Third:
Remember Cochise County.
Remember that officials refused to certify a lawful election.
Remember that a judge had to force them to sign.
Then…ask what could happen in 2028…if the governor and secretary of state are both men whose records demonstrate hostility toward election results they dislike.
The votes will be counted by ordinary Americans performing difficult…repetitive…and mostly invisible work.
The decisive question may be whether the officials above them accept what those votes say.
Arizona Republicans have nominated two men…whose histories give voters profound reason to doubt that they will.
November is not merely about who governs Arizona for the next four years.
It is about who may be holding the pens…when America chooses its next president.
Don’t panic. Pay attention.
Then make certain Arizona…understands what is actually on the ballot.
#HoldFast
Back soon.
-Jack
Jack Hopkins
P.S. Here's the thing I couldn't shake while writing this. In 2022, the system held by an inch. A judge stepped in. Officials who tried to refuse were forced to comply. The guardrail worked…barely.
But…guardrails aren't laws of physics. They're just people…in offices…willing to say no to their own side.
Now…the same movement that ran into those guardrails last time…is running to fill the offices where the guardrails live. You don't do that by accident.
You do that…because last time…the pen wasn't in your hand…and you've decided that next time…it will be. November is when you decide whether that plan works. Not 2028. November.
By 2028…it's already too late to matter.
Sources
Trump-backed Rep. Andy Biggs wins GOP primary for Arizona governor — Fox News
Andy Biggs wins GOP nomination to challenge Katie Hobbs — Associated Press via ABC News
Arizona primary takeaways: Republicans back Trump’s picks — CNN
What to watch in Arizona: the 2028 chief election officer at stake — NBC News Politics Desk
Arizona Republicans pick nominees for governor and other top offices — PBS NewsHour
Arizona certifies 2022 results after Cochise County certification standoff — Fox News
Cheat,Lie and corruption is All the Maga Regime has to try to win elections on, Jack. They already know that none of their policies are popular, so now, they'll run on "We're Not Great, but the Democrats are Worse" Good article and will reStack 💯👍
🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬