PHOENIX — Republican lawmakers are criticizing Governor Katie Hobbs after she vetoed 88 bills in a sweeping end-of-session action that blocked GOP priorities on border security, election integrity, religious law, education, photo radar, taxpayer transparency, and gender-transition-related care for minors. The Friday, June 19, 2026, veto marathon brought Hobbs’ 2026 veto total to 151, still short of the 174 vetoes she issued in 2025.

For Republican lawmakers, the issue is not just the number of bills Hobbs rejected, but the substance of what she blocked after the GOP-controlled Legislature sent her a large batch of conservative policy measures in the session’s final days. Senate Republicans framed the vetoes as part of a broader pattern of Hobbs rejecting policies they say Arizona voters support, particularly on immigration and border enforcement. Among the vetoed bills were proposals requiring greater cooperation with federal immigration authorities, limiting financial services tied to people in the country illegally, requiring state agencies to share immigration information with the federal government, and restricting taxpayer-funded benefits to people legally present in the United States.

“Governor Hobbs continues to show just how disconnected she is from the reality many Arizona families face every day,” said Sen. Wendy Rogers (R-7) in a statement after the vetoes. Rogers said the bills were “practical steps” aimed at enforcing existing laws, protecting taxpayer resources, and preventing Arizona from becoming “a magnet for illegal immigration.”

Sen. David Farnsworth (R-10) also criticized Hobbs’ rejection of a border-related proposal that would have allowed Arizona’s Advanced Air Mobility Fund to support border-security technology and surveillance.

“Anyone who spends time in Arizona’s border region understands that criminals are constantly adapting, and law enforcement must have access to modern technology to keep up,” Farnsworth said.

Hobbs also rejected Sen. David Gowan’s (R-19) photo radar reform bill, which would have capped most civil penalties from automated speed-camera violations at $75 and barred those citations from being used to increase insurance rates or threaten driving privileges. Before the veto, Gowan argued the bill was needed because “Arizonans are tired of being treated like an ATM by photo radar systems.”

Education and election bills also drew sharp Republican reaction. Senate Republicans said Hobbs vetoed measures on campus concealed carry, school emergency communications, civics instruction, and released-time religious education. Senate President Warren Petersen (R-14) said Hobbs’ veto of the released-time education bill sent “a clear message that bureaucrats should have more authority over a child’s education than parents.”

On election bills, Rogers accused Hobbs of blocking transparency measures, including cast vote records, ballot security requirements, and voter-roll access.

“If everything is already so secure and trustworthy, why is she fighting so hard to keep voters from seeing more of it?” Rogers said.

Hobbs defended many of the vetoes in individual letters, often describing the measures as unnecessary, unconstitutional, burdensome, or a threat to local control. She rejected a Sharia law ban by Sen. Janae Shamp (R-19), saying the practices cited in the bill are already illegal and that Arizona would likely lose a constitutional challenge. She also vetoed new restrictions on gender transition-related hormone therapy for minors, saying Arizona’s existing ban on gender reassignment surgery for minors made the proposals unnecessary.

But Republicans argue the veto blitz shows a governor using divided government to stop conservative policy across nearly every major issue area.

Despite the scale of the action, Hobbs has not yet matched her own veto record. Whether she will surpass last year’s mark remains uncertain. But with more than 40 additional measures still awaiting action after the Legislature adjourned, along with Hobbs’ penchant for squashing GOP-led bills, it’s highly likely she will. Either way, the AZ GOP political message is already clear: they intend to make the vetoes a campaign-year indictment of Hobbs’ priorities.