Katie Hobbs confident in ability to secure bid against GOP gubernatorial nominee

PHOENIX — After Katie Hobbs secured a spot in the general election as the Democratic gubernatorial candidate following Tuesday’s primary, she said she’s ready to continue addressing state issues and to defeat her Republican opponent.

“I’m running the way I’ve always run, as someone who wants to bring people together to solve problems, and I don’t think that’s Democrat or Republican. I think we need all the voices at the table, and we need someone who’s going to work to address those issues,” Hobbs told KTAR News 92.3 FM shortly after the race was called in her favor.

“We’re hearing from Democrats, Republicans and Independents — they want us to fix our schools and fund public education.”

She added that among those issues were also addressing the state’s water crisis, rising costs and protection of reproductive health care.

Hobbs said abortion rights remained a top concern among voters, crediting them for an uptick in ballot submissions in this midterm election.

The Democratic nominee for governor, and current officeholder for Arizona Secretary of State, will face Kari Lake in the general election, after the race was called in Lake’s favor Thursday night.

The race between Robson and Lake was too close to call Wednesday morning, as they were separated by a narrow margin.

Still, Hobbs believes she has what it takes to beat out her Republican candidate.

“I am confident in my ability to beat whichever Republican comes out of this bitter, bitter primary fight where they have taken positions that are so extreme they’re just out of touch with everyday Arizonans and have made themselves unpalatable,” Hobbs said.

If Lake alleges fraud in the elections, Hobbs said she’d “combat it the same way that we did in 2020 with Trump’s allegations.”

“They filed nine baseless lawsuits, and there’s no evidence for their claims and we’re going to just push back on it because she has no basis for these allegations,” Hobbs said.

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