Earlier this month, Arizona’s Democrat Governor Katie Hobbs spent three days zigzagging across Arizona on what her office branded the “Arizona Promise Tour.” The stops were billed as a chance to connect with everyday Arizonans and highlight her administration’s successes. But to many observers, the highly choreographed events looked less like governing and more like a taxpayer-funded campaign roadshow.

Comment after comment on social media questioned where the real opportunity to connect with and hear from the Governor has been.

In Phoenix, Hobbs staged multiple back-to-back announcements in front of carefully selected backdrops: signing an executive order to join a drug discount consortium, touting efficiency programs in a handpicked homeowner’s living room, and posing with a couple of newly minted first-time homebuyers. Later in the day, she appeared at Madison Park Middle School to celebrate expanded school lunch funding and wrapped the evening at a Department of Public Safety dispatch center, where she thanked troopers after a bomb squad demonstration. Each event followed the same formula: a photo-op, a press release, and applause from a friendly audience.

Day two took Hobbs to southern Arizona, where she appeared alongside the National Guard at the Nogales border crossing. While she praised “Task Force SAFE” for seizing fentanyl, her critics noted the timing.

From there, Hobbs pivoted to a water project in San Simon, ceremonially announcing state and federal funding for a community well. In Tucson, she signed a bill banning cell phones in classrooms — cameras rolling, students kept carefully out of sight until after the governor’s remarks. She ended the day at a veterans’ facility on Purple Heart Day, handing out challenge coins and promoting a “Homes for Heroes” program aimed at ending veteran homelessness.

The final day of the tour brought Hobbs to Flagstaff, where she highlighted wildfire prevention efforts and pledged millions in new state funding. She also convened with Indigenous health leaders, promising support for Medicaid coverage of traditional healing. Again, the appearances were tightly scripted, with local officials and beneficiaries flanking the governor for maximum visual impact.

Republicans framed the tour as a misuse of resources, as Hobbs’ office described the tour as “a celebration of opportunity, security, and freedom.” Critics countered that the governor is running a perpetual campaign, choosing photo-friendly backdrops that paper over deep problems rather than tackling them head-on. Border security failures, housing costs, and crumbling infrastructure weren’t solved on this trip — they were staged, polished, and repackaged as achievements.

For a governor who has often struggled to connect outside her base, the “Promise Tour” looked less like listening to Arizonans and more like lecturing them — with a camera crew in tow.