PHOENIX - The two Republican congressmen seeking the Arizona governorship made their cases during a debate on Wednesday. Each argued he alone possesses the broad appeal needed to defeat Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs while the state grapples with affordability challenges.

U.S. Rep. Andy Biggs, the primary front-runner who holds President Donald Trump's endorsement, stressed his cross-party reach and executive experience as key advantages.

"There is no doubt in my mind that polling shows I am the strongest Republican matchup against Katie Hobbs of anyone on this stage or in the state," Biggs said.

U.S. Rep. David Schweikert, who has won several competitive races against Democrats, pointed to his record on fiscal issues and business recruitment as what sets him apart.

"These are good people, but they have never been in the real fight," Schweikert said of Biggs and the other two GOP candidates.

Businessman Scott Neely, who ran for governor without success in 2022, told reporters after the debate that a Biggs primary win would hand the general election to Democrats.

The July 21 primary winner will face Hobbs, who has no primary opponent.

Biggs is serving his fifth House term from a heavily Republican district in the eastern Phoenix suburbs and once chaired the conservative House Freedom Caucus.

Earlier he spent 14 years in the Arizona Legislature, including four as Senate president. He opposed then-Gov. Jan Brewer's Medicaid expansion in 2013 and backed school-choice bills plus measures aimed at abortion providers.

Biggs remains one of Trump's strongest congressional allies and endorsed the former president's false claims that the 2020 election was stolen.

Schweikert, a fiscal conservative focused on federal debt, has represented an affluent northeast Phoenix and Scottsdale district for eight terms. He served in the Arizona House in the 1990s and later as Maricopa County treasurer.

Schweikert has often used late-night House speeches to highlight the national deficit and debt. He supported Trump's 2017 tax cuts yet called for deeper spending reductions.

His record includes ethics penalties. The Federal Election Commission fined him $125,000 in 2022 for campaign-fund misuse. In 2020 he paid a $50,000 fine and admitted 11 campaign-finance violations after a House Ethics Committee review. He has defeated Democratic challengers in his last three general elections.

Biggs backed Arizona's new three-year moratorium on tax incentives for data centers, a step also promoted by Hobbs. "They should not get a break," he said, citing their heavy use of power and water.

Schweikert called the state's affordability rankings "pretty miserable" but said lower prices require active effort. He pledged to recruit more businesses and push for wage growth.

Both candidates addressed the end of Affordable Care Act subsidies.

"We will have to accept that subsidizing everything in the economy will not work," Schweikert said.

Biggs noted legislation he introduced to cut health costs and endorsed Trump's plan to send funds directly to Americans for health savings accounts so individuals can manage their own insurance and medical expenses.