Katie Hobbs

Katie graduated from the first Emerge Arizona class in 2004. As a social worker for sixteen years, Katie entered Emerge with a great deal of policy background.  However, it wasn't until she joined Emerge that she thought to apply this experience to electoral politics.  Emerge "turned a switch for me," she shared, "and now I follow all the state legislative elections."  Katie also decided to join the Emerge Arizona board a year after her training, enabling her to "eat, sleep, and breathe Emerge," and support more Democratic women in her community.

Katie has served as the chair of the District 15 Democrats and has volunteered with several campaigns for the Arizona Democratic Party.  She currently works for Sojourner Center, the largest domestic violence shelter in the United States. As Director of Government Relations, she is responsible for ensuring compliance with nearly $4 million in government contracts, is involved in several community-wide domestic violence and homeless coordination efforts, and works to engage domestic violence survivors in the legislative process and social action. 

Additionally, Katie serves as a Commissioner on the Phoenix Women's Commission, the Phoenix Human Services Commission, and is the chair of the Maricopa County Merit System Commission. She is on the board of Political Action for Candidate Election of the Arizona chapter of the National Association of Social Workers, and is adjunct faculty in the Social and Behavioral Sciences Department at Paradise Valley Community College. In addition to her Emerge training, Katie is a graduate of Valley Leadership's Leadership Institute (2003) and the Center for Progressive Leadership's Political Leaders Fellowship program (2007).

Outside of her professional life, Katie enjoys spending time with her family.  She has been married to Pat Goodman for 13 years and they have two amazing children: Sam, age 10, and Hannah, age 7. 

Katie received her Bachelor of Social Work from Northern Arizona University in 1992 and her Master of Social Work from Arizona State University in 1995.

Find out more about her campaign at www.katiehobbs.org