A breakdown of Gov. Hobbs' first State of the State

Arizonans heard the plans from a new Governor for the first time in 8 years as Democrat Katie Hobbs started her second week in office.

In her State of the State address, she set the tone for her legislative priorities for 2023 and emphasized a desire for bipartisanship. It didn’t take long for some of the Republicans in the Legislature to make clear they have little desire to find common ground on issues like abortion rights.

Hobbs spent much of her speech talking about public education, another area where she and her Republican lawmakers will have to avert a rapidly approaching funding deadline that could abruptly end the school year for some and unleash broad, new doubts about the state’s commitment to education.

This week on The Gaggle, a podcast by The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com, host Ron Hansen is joined by reporter Stacey Barchenger and partner at Ascent Media, Daniel Scarpinato. Daniel helped write these speeches as an aide to former Gov. Doug Ducey. He ended his tenure with the governor as Ducey’s chief of staff.

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