PHOENIX — Life, right now, for Katie Hobbs pretty much consists of running from one meeting to the next.
Hobbs wears two hats. Both jobs require her attention. "Incredibly crazy," Hobbs said, "but I would much rather be doing this than anything else."
Hobbs has big plans beginning the first day she is sworn in as Arizona's 24th Governor.
Reproductive freedom, the economy, the border, water security, and education are all part of her agenda.
To succeed, she will have to work with the legislature where there is still a slim Republican majority in both chambers.
"I have a long track record of working across the aisle," Hobbs said. But she will have her work cut out for her, especially in the state senate, with newly installed Senate President Warren Petersen
As Hobbs prepares to take the reins from Governor Doug Ducey, she is considering undoing much of what Ducey has done on the border.
Regarding the creation of the border strike force, Hobbs said, "certainly the border strike force is going to be under evaluation. If they are actually doing what they need to be doing in terms of border security and not pulling resources away from the essential function of the Department of Public Safety and the State Troopers. I think that's critical."
Hobbs thinks both Ducey's border wall and his busing of migrants to Washington D.C. are political stunts and seem likely to end shortly after she is inaugurated.
Regarding the wall, Hobbs says, "we've seen numerous pictures of people climbing over them, they're not working to keep people from crashing the border. Now our state is going to be embroiled in a legal battle over these. The federal government has said they need to be moved." Regarding busing migrants, "It is not providing any real solutions for Arizona or for these migrants. Again, wasting taxpayer dollars and playing politics with people's lives."
Hobbs says the border is the federal government's responsibility.
She intends to work with the Biden Administration and border communities to deal with the overflow of migrants which have entered Arizona over the last two years.
While the state elected a Democratic governor, the legislature is another matter.
Governor Hobbs says she wants to meet with legislative leadership, saying it's a high priority, to look at how they can work together. "I think in this election, Arizonans chose sanity over chaos, and they chose someone who is going to get to work on issues that aren't just democrat or republican issues but Arizona issues that need a leader that will bring people together to the table to solve those issues."
Hobbs believes she can get consensus on water issues, education funding, the border, and inflation.
But the first thing Hobbs says she'll do once she is sworn in is work to repeal the state's territorial abortion law and restore a woman's reproductive freedom.
That will include calling a special session to get it done. "I'm going to use every tool at my disposal as governor to restore the freedoms that we've had for last 50 years."