The fight over the Colorado River is mostly a conflict over affordability and economic growth — and no one knows that better than Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs.
The first-term Democrat who is running for reelection in 2026 in a critical swing state has come out swinging on the topic in recent weeks, blasting the upstream states for taking an “extreme” position and appealing for help from the Trump administration to protect her state’s growing semiconductor manufacturing and high-tech sectors.
As the states remain deadlocked over which will cut their offtake of water from the river that supplies 40 million people and 5.5 million acres of irrigated agriculture, it appears increasingly likely that the Trump administration will have to step in.
In an interview with POLITICO ahead of the annual Colorado River Water Users Association conference in Las Vegas this week, Hobbs said she hopes the Trump administration will keep politics out of its decisions — but she likes Arizona’s odds if they don’t.
