This November, Republican women will be an important voting bloc — This isn’t particularly new information, but thanks to the U.S. Supreme Court and Arizona’s key role in the drama around the 2020 presidential election, it is possibly the most important year for Republican women to make a very careful choice on which female gubernatorial candidate most directly represents our values and should lead our state.

This became particularly clear for us over Kari Lake’s latest media stunt. It wasn’t so much her use of a vulgar analogy. It was her statement that if you don’t know what it means you should “ask your kids about it later.” As parents, we were appalled. As advocates for children and families, we were dumbfounded.

It may seem like an off-handed comment, but it truly put parents in a very awkward position if they took her advice.

Lake is setting up women to take another fall as well — this time over who has control of our bodies and our families. A Republican woman can hold deeply held beliefs, as we do, that would steer us away from choosing to terminate a pregnancy. But we can also acknowledge that it is a very personal decision between a woman and her doctor and her family. A decision that politicians should stay out of.

However, Republican women, like us, tend to be fiscally conservative and may be concerned that if Katie Hobbs were governor taxes may get raised. That shouldn’t be a concern. It requires a two-thirds majority in both the Arizona House and Senate to raise taxes.

Whether or not you agree that is fair, that is how it is. There is absolutely no way Democrats will gain enough seats in November to have a two-thirds majority in either the House or Senate. Any tax increase would require bipartisan support or a vote of the people.

This is particularly relevant given the landmark bipartisan 2023 state budget passed in June.

While keeping taxes low, Arizona was finally able to put significant funding back into education and begin to address the water crisis — and it took both Republicans and Democrats moving away from political rhetoric and finding common ground.

But Lake isn’t about finding common ground, shown by her rhetoric on overturning the 2020 election and enforcing Arizona’s abortion ban.

A Hobbs governorship is much more likely to protect education funding, end the “controversy” over the 2020 election, and support women’s autonomy.

Seems like the choice is pretty clear.

About the authors

Rebecca Gau served as the director of the Office of Education Innovation under Republican Governor Jan Brewer; she is currently the Arizona executive director at Stand for Children. Lisa Hoberg is a Republican precinct and state committeeman and long-time parent advocate for public education.