Hobbs wins Arizona governor’s race, flipping state for Dems

PHOENIX (AP) — Democrat Katie Hobbs was elected Arizona governor on Monday, defeating an ally of Donald Trump who falsely claimed the 2020 election was rigged and refused to say she would settle for the outcomes of her race this yr.

Hobbs, who’s Arizona’s secretary of state, rose to prominence as a staunch defender of the legitimacy of the final election and warned that her Republican rival, former tv news anchor Kari Lake, can be an agent of chaos. Hobbs’ victory provides additional proof that Trump is weighing down his allies in a vital battleground state as the previous president gears up for an announcement of a 2024 presidential run.

She will succeed Republican Gov. Doug Ducey, who was prohibited by time period restrict legal guidelines from operating once more. She’s the primary Democrat to be elected governor in Arizona since Janet Napolitano in 2006.

“For the Arizonans who did not vote for me, I will work just as hard for you — because even in this moment of division, I believe there is so much more that connects us,” Hobbs mentioned in an announcement declaring victory. “This was not just about an election — it was about moving this state forward and facing the challenges of our generation.”

Lake tweeted after the decision, “Arizonans know BS when they see it.”

The Associated Press known as the governor’s race for Hobbs after the newest spherical of vote releases gave her a sufficiently big lead that the AP decided she wouldn’t relinquish it. The AP concluded that, regardless that Lake had been posting more and more bigger margins in vote updates from Maricopa County, she was not gaining a sufficiently big share to overhaul Hobbs and was operating out of remaining votes.

Vote counting had gone on for days because the Tuesday election, as officers continued to tally large quantities of late-arriving ballots.

A onetime Republican stronghold the place Democrats made good points through the Trump period, Arizona has been central to efforts by Trump and his allies to forged doubt on Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential victory with false claims of fraud. This yr, many Trump-endorsed candidates faltered on the whole elections in battleground states, although his decide within the Nevada governor’s race, Republican Joe Lombardo, defeated an incumbent Democrat.

Before coming into politics, Hobbs was a social employee who labored with homeless youth and an government with a big home violence shelter within the Phoenix space. She was elected to the state Legislature in 2010, serving one time period within the House and three phrases within the Senate, rising to minority chief.

Hobbs eked out a slim win in 2018 as secretary of state and was thrust into the middle of a political storm as Arizona grew to become the centerpiece of the efforts by Trump and his allies to overturn the outcomes of the 2020 election he misplaced. She appeared consistently on cable news defending the integrity of the vote depend.

The consideration allowed her to lift thousands and thousands of {dollars} and lift her profile. When she introduced her marketing campaign for governor, different distinguished Democrats declined to run and Hobbs comfortably received her major.

She ran a cautious marketing campaign, sticking largely to scripted and choreographed public appearances. She declined to take part in a debate with Lake, contending that Lake would flip it right into a spectacle by spouting conspiracy theories and making false accusations.

She guess as a substitute that voters would recoil in opposition to Lake, who picked verbal fights with journalists as cameras rolled and struck a combative tone towards Democrats and even the institution Republicans who’ve lengthy dominated state authorities.

Pre-election polls confirmed the race was tied, however Hobbs’ victory was nonetheless a shock to many Democrats who feared her timidity would flip off voters. She overcame expectations in Maricopa and Pima counties, the metro Phoenix and Tucson areas the place the overwhelming majority of Arizona voters dwell. She additionally spent appreciable time in rural areas, seeking to decrease her losses in areas that historically help Republicans.

Lake is well-known in a lot of the state after anchoring the night news in Phoenix for greater than 20 years. She ran as a fierce critic of the mainstream media, which she mentioned is unfair to Republicans. She earned Trump’s admiration for her staunch dedication to questioning the outcomes of the 2020 election, a stand she by no means wavered from even after successful the GOP major.

She baselessly accused election officers of slow-rolling the vote depend this yr and prioritizing Democratic ballots as she narrowly trailed Hobbs for days following the election.

Lake has cited an issue with printers at a few third of Maricopa County vote facilities that led on-site tabulators to reject some ballots. Election officers instructed voters to place ballots in a separate field to be counted later, however Republican leaders instructed their supporters to disregard that instruction and contours in some locations backed up.

The downside affected about 7% of ballots forged in particular person on Election Day and about 1% of the overall forged within the county.

Maricopa County Sheriff Paul Penzone mentioned he elevated safety across the elections heart Monday in anticipation that the race can be known as and feelings might run scorching, although he mentioned there was no particular menace. Demonstrators have gathered exterior the constructing for a number of days however have remained peaceable, he mentioned.

“I think we’re getting close to the end game so I want to be sure that we’re prepared,” Penzone instructed reporters in a news convention hours earlier than the race name.

The sheriff’s workplace was caught off guard two years in the past when armed and offended protesters descended on the elections constructing in downtown Phoenix after Fox News and the AP known as Arizona for Biden, marking the primary time a Democrat received the state in additional than 20 years.

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Learn extra concerning the points and elements at play within the midterms at https://apnews.com/hub/explaining-the-elections. And observe the AP’s election protection of the 2022 elections at https://apnews.com/hub/2022-midterm-elections.