Democrat Hobbs wins Arizona gubernatorial race

Democrat Katie Hobbs was elected governor of Arizona on Monday, defeating a Donald Trump ally who falsely claimed the 2020 election was rigged and refused to say she would accept the results of her race this year.

Hobbs, who is Arizona’s secretary of state, rose to fame as a staunch defender of the legitimacy of the last election, warning that her Republican rival, former television news anchor Kari Lake, would be an agent of chaos. Hobbs’ victory adds more evidence that Trump is putting pressure on his allies in a crucial battleground state as the former president prepares for the announcement of a 2024 presidential bid.

She will succeed Republican Gov. Doug Ducey, who was barred by term limit laws from running again. She is the first Democrat to be elected governor in Arizona since Janet Napolitano in 2006.

“For the Arizonans who didn’t vote for me, I will work just as hard for you, because even in this divisive moment, I believe there is so much more that connects us,” Hobbs said in a statement declaring victory. “This was not just about an election, this was about moving this state forward and meeting the challenges of our generation.”

Lake tweeted after the call: “Arizonans know BS when they see it.”

The Associated Press called Hobbs into the gubernatorial race after the latest round of voting gave him a large enough lead that the AP determined he would not drop it. The AP concluded that even though Lake had been posting larger and larger margins on Maricopa County vote updates, she was not gaining a large enough share to overtake Hobbs and was running out of votes remaining.

Vote counting has dragged on for days since Tuesday’s election as officials continued to count massive numbers of late-arriving ballots.

Once a Republican stronghold where Democrats made gains during the Trump era, Arizona has been central to efforts by Trump and his allies to cast doubt on Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential victory with false claims of fraud. This year, many Trump-backed candidates have failed in general elections in key battleground states, although his pick in the race for Nevada governor, Republican Joe Lombardo, defeated an incumbent Democrat.

Before entering politics, Hobbs was a social worker working with homeless youth and an executive at a large Phoenix-area domestic violence shelter. She was elected to the state Legislature in 2010, serving one House term and three Senate terms, rising to minority leader.

Hobbs scored a narrow victory in 2018 as secretary of state and found herself at the center of a political storm as Arizona became the centerpiece of efforts by Trump and his allies to overturn the results of the 2020 election he lost. She was constantly on cable news defending the integrity of the vote count.

The attention allowed him to raise millions of dollars and raise his profile. When she announced her campaign for governor, other prominent Democrats declined to run, and Hobbs handily won her primary.

[Con información de The Associated Press]

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