Democrat Kari Lake, a MAGA favorite, loses to Katie Hobbs in Arizona’s crucial gubernatorial election.

Katie Hobbs beat Kari Lake in Arizona’s governor’s election.

Hobbs’ win is crucial for Democrats in a crucial presidential state and serves as a rebuke to a well-known election skeptic, despite the fact that the race was so close that the outcome was in doubt for over a week.

In a statement released late on Monday, Hobbs said, “I am delighted to have been chosen to serve as the next Governor of Arizona.” ” I want to express my gratitude to the people for giving me such a huge responsibility. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and I’ll do all in my ability to make you proud.
Officials in Maricopa County said that a record number of early votes were sent on election day, necessitating a more time-consuming processing procedure that involves signature verification. The most populous county in the state, Maricopa, said on Sunday that it thought the count was 94% complete after receiving a remarkable 290,000 of those early votes on Election Day.

After polling in the final weeks of the campaign suggested she was gaining ground on Hobbs, who as secretary of state in 2020 vocally defended the state’s election system and the accuracy of the count, Lake, a MAGA firebrand and former local newscaster, ultimately lost. Hobbs had made false claims that the election in Arizona had been rigged.

Arizona votes to keep another election denier out of office https://t.co/nZZX3p1yq1

— Joyce Alene (@JoyceWhiteVance) November 15, 2022

Arizonans are savvy enough to recognize BS when they see it. Lake tweeted about 90 minutes after NBC News declared Hobbs the winner

Hobbs’ understated demeanor throughout the campaign stood in stark contrast to Lake, who seemed to be everywhere. Despite Lake’s television charisma helping her in the race, voters still seemed to be concerned about her views on the 2020 election, abortion rights, and how closely she sided with the former president, who saw independent voters in the state defect to the Republican Party during his presidency, allowing Joe Biden to flip the formerly ruby-red state.

High stakes were involved. This November, Arizona offered probably the best opportunity for an anti-election candidate to win the governor’s contest in a swing state since the victor would directly affect how the state certified the presidential vote in 2024.

However, Arizona saw some of the highest inflation rates nationwide, and voters were alarmed by the large number of unauthorized immigrants who were entering the state from Mexico. As her campaign came to a close, Lake put more of an emphasis on the economy, education, and crime than on her drive to alter election rules.

However, since election officials encountered a number of hiccups and ballots were slowly counted over many days, the election administration grabbed center stage in the last weeks of the campaign, on Election Day, and in the days that followed. The procedure was criticized by Lake and other statewide GOP candidates, some of whom made unfounded accusations of criminal conduct.

Don’t let those liars and cheats fool you, Lake said during her election night speech, adding that she expected victory “within hours.”

“We will proclaim victory and begin working to reverse this,” she added.

Arizona Democrats expected that Lake’s refusal to change her stances, including declaring a border invasion and vowing to enforce new abortion bans, would help Hobbs garner independent votes. Republican, Democratic, and independent voters divided Arizona.

With Republican-backed restrictions at the forefront of their messaging, Hobbs and her supporters made abortion rights the focal point of their campaign. However, they also aimed to compare their policies on immigration and inflation to those of Lake, a political outsider.

According to NBC News exit polling, 58% of Arizona voters expressed anger or displeasure about the Supreme Court decision that reversed Roe v. Wade, and 80% of those voters supported Hobbs. This supported Hobbs’ understanding of the case.

Hobbs won the majority of independent votes and 59% of self-described moderates, who made up the bulk of the electorate, according to NBC News’ exit polls. More than 70% of voters who were under the age of 29, or nearly 12% of the total, supported Hobbs. Hobbs also attracted more Republican votes than Lake received from Democrats.
Last month, Lake made it quite apparent that she still supported the former president wholeheartedly by saying, “I have some of these know-nothing advisers that say, “You know, you really ought to step away from President Trump right now.” Put down Hunter’s [Biden’s] crack pipe right now, I tell them.

Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., advised Arizonans not to vote for Lake at a discussion held at Arizona State University a few days before because she would support Hobbs if she lived in Arizona and would not accept the results of the election if she lost.

Ads in Arizona that attacked Lake and fellow election skeptic Mark Finchem, who ran for secretary of state, received more than $500,000 from Cheney’s PAC.

At the time, Lake thanked Cheney in a statement, saying that her advertisement had had “exactly the opposite effect” and increased voter turnout.

After the Hobbs election was declared, Cheney tweeted on Monday night, “You’re welcome, @KariLake.”

In the primary, departing GOP Governor Doug Ducey, who angered Trump by certifying Biden’s victory for 2020, criticized Lake and backed her rival Republican, Karrin Taylor Robson. However, after her victory, Ducey and Lake reconciled, and the Republican Governors Association, which Ducey heads, spent millions of dollars supporting Lake.

Hobbs’ unwillingness to engage in a debate became a focal point of Lake’s campaign in the final weeks. Last month, she even interrupted the beginning of a discussion where the two candidates were scheduled to speak individually by demanding that Hobbs debate her before agreeing to leave the room until it was her time to speak.

tưDemocrat Kari Lake, a MAGA favorite, loses to Katie Hobbs in Arizona’s crucial gubernatorial election.Hobbs said last month, in response to supporters’ worries about her own campaign: “I am out here.” I’m struggling.

Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., and Adrian Fontes, the Democratic candidate for secretary of state, were predicted to beat state Reps. Mark Finchem and Blake Masters, respectively, by NBC News. Abraham Hamadeh, a Republican supported by Trump, and Kris Mayes, a Democrat, are locked in a tight race for attorney general.

In an interview conducted before election day, Hobbs said that she saw no indication that the election denial movement, for which Arizona served as a kind of ground zero, would dissipate after the ballots had been tallied.

Hobbs said, “I believe 2020 was the beginning of this long campaign,” and he promised to respect the results no matter who won. “It may even become worse, in my opinion, depending on how many of these elections turn out, since Kari Lake has already said that she would only accept the results if she wins.” Therefore, if they lose their races, I don’t believe any of these people will just disappear into thin air.

From Ecomhao.com