Democratic Arizona gubernatorial candidate Katie Hobbs defeated Republican opponent Kari Lake in Arizona’s nearly tied governor’s race.
The Democrat defeated Lake by just one percentage point, 50.4%-49.5%, with 1.26 million votes, while Lake closely trailed behind her by garnering 1.24 million, according to The New York Times’ election tracker. Officials called the race almost exactly one week after the election on Monday night over the close results and delayed counting.
Hobbs ran against the highly covered Lake who had gained momentum after repeatedly doubting the results of the 2020 presidential election and criticizing the media’s coverage of elections. She, like many Democrats, largely ran her base on abortion following the overturn of Roe v. Wade in June.
The Democrat could not answer whether she supports any restrictions on abortion during an interview with CBS News’ “Face the Nation” given that she opposed a proposed 15-week abortion ban at the national level. When asked at what point she supports restrictions, she said abortion is “a very personal decision” that politicians should not interfere with.
Lake accused Hobbs of being an “extremist” on abortion due to her silence on restrictions. The Democrat mutually accused Lake of being extreme for vowing to uphold an either the 1864 near-total abortion ban or the 15-week restriction that the Arizona state legislature is currently contemplating.
She targeted her opponent during her campaign for her stolen election claims, who affirmed that Arizona’s elections are “secure and fair,” Arizona Central reported.
Former U.S. President Barack Obama campaigns with Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) and Democratic Governor nominee Katie Hobbs (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
“We’re going to continue to make sure of that in this 2022 election,” she said in July. “These are just more of the same conspiracy theories that they’ve been running on this entire election. And more examples of how they’re working to undermine confidence in our elections and promote the ‘Big Lie.’” (RELATED: Arizona Dem Gubernatorial Candidate Pushes Anti-School Choice Agenda. She Went To Private School)
Hobbs refused to debate Lake during the campaign, as her opponent appears comfortable and confident upstage, CBS News reported. In October, Republican Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney warned voters not to vote for Lake for her denialism.
“For almost 40 years now, I’ve been voting Republican,” Cheney said. “I don’t know if I have ever voted for a Democrat, but if I lived in Arizona now, I absolutely would for governor and for secretary of state.”
Cheney continued, “If you care about democracy and you care about the survival of our republic, then you need to understand, we all have to understand, that we cannot give people power who have told us that they will not honor elections.”
Lake led Hobbs in the race by three percentage points—50.8%-47.3%—on the day the election was held on Nov. 8, RealClearPolitics reported.
Lake centered her campaign around election integrity and the migrant crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border. She has repeatedly insisted that the 2020 presidential election was “stolen,” claiming in March that the so-called “rigged election” is the “biggest story out there.”
The gubernatorial candidate has remained silent on whether she would concede the election if Hobbs won, telling “The Conservative Circus” podcast that she will not lose to her opponent, The Guardian reported. She made a similar remark during an interview with CNN’s Dana Bash, in which she said she will “accept” her victory.
Hobbs served as the state’s Secretary of State and as a social worker, Ballotpedia reported.