In this combination of photos Republican candidate for Arizona governor Kari Lake, left, appears before a PBS televised debate on Wednesday, June 29, 2022, in Phoenix and Democratic challenger Katie Hobbs smiles prior to a televised interview in Phoenix, Tuesday, Oct. 18, 2022. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
OAN Newsroom
UPDATED 8:54 AM PT – Tuesday, November 15, 2022
The Associated Press has called the race in favor Katie Hobbs.
Kari Lake (R-Ariz.) and Katie Hobbs (D-Ariz.) have been head-to-head for months.
Prior to this election, Lake was a television anchor at Fox10 News in Phoenix for more than two decades. She aspired to get involved in the industry to become a symbol of truth but “rejected the agenda-drive press and walked away from the mainstream media after a highly successful 27 years,” according to her campaign website.
Katie Hobbs went straight into social work after putting herself through college and helped run one of the nation’s largest domestic abuse shelters. Through her work, Hobbs said she saw leaders fail to address the issues Arizonans face every day. She represented the state House of Representatives from 2011 to 2013. Hobbs also served in the state Senate from 2013 to 2019. She was elected Senate Minority Leader in 2015. The Democrat assumed her current role as Arizona Secretary of State in 2019.
Lake was endorsed by 45th President Donald Trump early on in the election. She picked up other notable endorsements including that of newly removed Democrat Tulsi Gabbard. Her campaign focused on putting Arizona first by stopping illegal immigrants from flooding over the nation’s borders, energy independence and pushing back against the Biden agenda.
“Our federal government is supposed to protect us from such a thing, but Joe Biden pulled back an incredible policy that President Trump put in place on day one of his administration,” Lake said during an interview with The Headline. “He pulled that back and left us exposed to a criminal element and an invasion. So on day one, when I take the oath of office, we’re going to declare an invasion on our border.”
On the other hand, Hobbs has run a campaign heavily focused on abortion and labeling the state’s GOP candidates as election deniers. The Democrat oversaw the disastrous 2020 election in Arizona, which saw delays in counting and received fraudulent claims.
Hobbs’ campaign website says the Democrat is “ready to bring transparency and accountability to the Governor’s office and deliver real results.”
Many of the issues have not been fixed, as Pinal County ran out of Republican ballots in the August primary and her office has been sealed from the public since pandemic shutdowns began more than two years ago.
Hobbs refused to take the stage and debate Lake publicly, claiming it would be a waste of time due to her opponents “extremist views.” The move left fellow Democrats and the corporate media perplexed over her strategy and corporate media on the defense.
Election results came in slowly. According to the Associated Press, Hobbs won with 50.4% of the vote, or 1,267,241 votes. Lake received 49.6% or 1,247,859 votes. 98% of the votes have been counted.
Due to Senate Bill 1008, which passed earlier this year, the automatic recount in the Grand Canyon State increased from one-tenth of 1% to half of 1%.
Lake has not conceded the race.
