Republican gubernatorial nominee Andy Biggs made state history Friday by becoming the first Arizona candidate to select a lieutenant governor running mate. His choice, former state Sen. Sine Kerr, would be first in line to succeed him if the ticket defeats Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs on Nov. 3.

Arizona voters created the office by approving Proposition 131 with 55% of the vote in 2022. The lieutenant governor will replace the secretary of state as first in the line of succession. If elected, the governor must appoint the lieutenant governor as chief of staff, director of the Department of Administration or another position under the governor’s authority.

“I am thrilled to have Sine Kerr as my running mate and Arizona’s first nominee to be Lieutenant Governor,” Biggs said. He cited Kerr’s relationships with farmers, ranchers, and policymakers across the state.

Kerr said she would campaign heavily in rural communities, ensuring that they have “a seat at the table” in a Biggs administration.

Kerr grew up in Buckeye after moving there with her military family at the age of three. She met her husband, Bill Kerr, while both attended Buckeye High School. In 1980, she and Bill started a dairy and row-crop operation in rural Buckeye. After 43 years in the dairy business, the family sold its dairy herd and shifted operations to focus on raising beef cattle while continuing to grow alfalfa, corn, oats, and sorghum.

The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors appointed Kerr to the Arizona Senate in 2018 to replace Steve Montenegro, who resigned his seat to run for the U.S. Congressional District 8 seat. She won election later that year and was reelected in 2020 and 2022. During her tenure, Kerr chaired the Natural Resources, Energy, and Water Committee from 2019 through 2025 and served as Senate majority whip during her final term. She opted not to seek re-election in 2024.

In May 2025, the Trump administration appointed Kerr to serve as the Arizona Executive Director of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farm Service Agency. She stepped down this past Wednesday to run as Biggs’ Lt Governor.

Kerr’s legislative record includes major water and crime-victim measures as well as several contentious proposals on abortion and transgender policy. In 2022, she sponsored SB 1740, which reestablished the Water Infrastructure Finance Authority as a separate state agency and directed $1 billion toward water-supply development, conservation and augmentation projects. Kerr also sponsored SB 1653, known as Kayleigh’s Law, which authorized lifetime no-contact injunctions for victims of certain violent and sexual crimes. Her SB 1593 prohibited health care institutions from billing sexual-assault victims for covered medical or forensic examinations.

Kerr is a self-identified conservative, much like her running mate. Her abortion voting record is likely to draw attention in the general election. In 2021, Kerr proposed attaching a near-total abortion restriction to House Bill HB 2140, which originally concerned license plates. The amendment would have made performing an abortion after fetal cardiac activity was detected a felony. It included an exception for when the mother’s life was in danger, but none for rape or incest. Although the proposal didn’t receive a floor vote, it reinforced Kerr’s standing as a prominent abortion opponent.

In 2024, Kerr sponsored the Arizona Women’s Bill of Rights, which would have replaced replaced many references to gender in state law with definitions of biological sex limited to male and female.

Kerr stated that the bill, “affirms the simple truth that there are two sexes — male and female” and would protect women from “unwanted intrusions by males into intimate spaces.”

Critics stated that the bill could eliminate legal protections for transgender Arizonans and threaten federal funding. Despite passing the Republican-led Legislature, Hobbs vetoed the measure.

Kerr has described herself as “pro-taxpayer, pro-family, pro-life, and pro-Constitution.” In a 2022 voter guide, Kerr also wrote that “the left has become irrational and increasingly confrontational.”

Her stance on state water policy has been another source of conflict. Kerr and Arizona Farm Bureau President Stefanie Smallhouse resigned from Hobbs’ Water Policy Council in 2023. Kerr expressed grave concerns that “agriculture was the target for reducing water” and that farmers’ needs were being disregarded.

A Hobbs spokesperson accused the departing members of “doing a disservice to rural farmers” by removing agricultural voices from the council.

Republican elected officials have praised Kerr’s work. When she entered the Senate, then-Maricopa County Supervisor Clint Hickman said she had a deep understanding of the region and its business community and would bring a “practical and focused approach” to state government. Former Gov. Doug Ducey later credited Kerr’s “leadership and advocacy” when signing her forensic-examination legislation.

On Friday, Hobbs’ campaign called Kerr “extreme,” while Republican consultants offered mixed assessments of whether she would expand Biggs’ coalition. Biggs said Kerr “checked every box,” citing her legislative, administrative, agricultural and water-policy experience.

Kerr’s selection adds West Valley and rural representation to a ticket led by an East Valley congressman. Her Senate leadership, federal administrative experience and work on agriculture and water give Biggs a running mate with substantial state-policy experience. The selection does little, however, to moderate the ticket’s ideological profile.

Kerr’s record on abortion, transgender policy and groundwater regulation gives Democrats clear lines of attack as the campaigns compete for suburban and independent voters. Biggs is betting that her governing experience and rural appeal will matter more than those political liabilities.