Key Points

• Congressman Andy Biggs selected former Sen. Sine Kerr as his running mate

• Kerr could become the state’s first lieutenant governor 

• The former lawmaker brings expertise on rural Arizona and water policy to the ticket

Congressman Andy Biggs has selected former state Sen. Sine Kerr to serve as his running mate and potentially Arizona’s first lieutenant governor.

Biggs made the announcement Friday, a little over a week after securing the Republican nomination for governor. This year marks the first time in Arizona history that gubernatorial candidates will select a running mate and the first time voters will elect a lieutenant governor. 

“I am thrilled to have Sine Kerr as my running mate and Arizona’s first nominee to be Lieutenant Governor,” Biggs said in a statement. “Sine knows Arizona’s agriculture community as well as anyone and has the respect of farmers, ranchers, and policy makers from around the state.”The position is intended to solve a succession problem that saw the governor’s office occasionally change party hands when governors resigned or died. The Secretary of State has traditionally been next in the line of succession.

And Kerr, if elected alongside Biggs, will have an opportunity to shape the role beyond the vague statutory outline defining its responsibilities. Lawmakers set the position up to give the governor leeway in determining what role the lieutenant governor will play in their administration. 

Kerr has deep roots in rural Arizona, policy expertise on issues like agriculture and water, and legislative experience — qualifications many suggested Biggs was looking for in a potential second-in-command. 

“Rural Arizona will always have a seat at the table in a Biggs-Kerr Administration and I’m looking forward to rallying rural communities across our state to deliver a win for Andy Biggs in November,” Kerr said in a statement.

A dairy farmer by trade, Kerr made her first foray into politics in 2018. She was appointed to the Senate that year to fill a vacancy left by now-House Speaker Steve Montenegro. 

Kerr served in the Senate for seven years before choosing not to run for reelection in 2024. In May 2025, she was appointed by President Donald Trump to serve as Arizona state director for the U.S. Farm Service Agency, a division of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. 

The former senator made plenty of waves during her time at the state Capitol. She introduced a bill banning abortion procedures after detection of a fetal heartbeat and quit the Water Policy Council established by Gov. Katie Hobbs to draft groundwater reform legislation. 

In his announcement, Biggs praised Kerr’s work on legislation establishing lifetime protection orders for victims of violent crimes and securing more funding for the Water Infrastructure Finance Authority to use on water conservation projects.

However, meaningful groundwater legislation has been elusive in the last four legislative sessions marked by divided government. 

Many city and county leaders, Republicans and Democrats alike, have begun criticizing the GOP-led Legislature for their inability to work with Hobbs and the Department of Water Resources to conserve and replenish Arizona’s dwindling groundwater supply. 

It’s possible that Biggs selected Kerr to spearhead those efforts in his future administration, though many water stakeholders saw Kerr and her House counterpart — Rep. Gail Griffin, R-Hereford — as bulwarks against groundwater reform legislation. The two chaired the Senate and House Committees on Natural Resources, Water and Energy, during their overlapping time in the Legislature. 

Kerr is expected to join Biggs at a rally in Goodyear Friday evening. Meanwhile, Hobbs’ campaign remains tight-lipped about the governor’s potential lieutenant governor pick.