Democrat Katie Hobbs projected to become Arizona’s next governor, defeats Kari Lake
Nov 14, 2022, 8:30 PM | Updated: 8:36 pm
PHOENIX — Arizona has selected a new governor and it’ll be Democrat Katie Hobbs.
The Democrat and current secretary of state was projected to defeat Republican Kari Lake on Monday evening, according to The Associated Press.
Hobbs had a 50.4%-49.6% lead and led by 19,494 votes as of 8:30 p.m. Monday night after Maricopa County results were released, according to the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office.
She will be the Grand Canyon State’s 24th governor and assume the office from outgoing Gov. Doug Ducey in January. She is also the second Democratic governor of Arizona since the turn of the century after Janet Napolitano (2003-09).
Hobbs’ projected win was the conclusion of a drama-filled race that was in the national spotlight for months.
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She easily won the Democratic nomination on the strength of her rebuttal of fraud claims pertaining to the 2020 election.
Lake, the former television news anchor with Fox 10, won the Republican nomination over Karrin Taylor Robson, and centered her campaign around the values of former President Donald Trump.
The two candidates never debated during the cycle, a decision Hobbs said was due to her belief Lake “was only interested in a spotlight and creating a spectacle.”
Tensions between Hobbs and Lake continued into the final weeks before the election.
Hobbs’ campaign office was broken into Oct. 24, a crime the Democrat attributed to Lake’s words and actions.
No link was found between the accused thief and Lake’s campaign.
Polling averages had the two candidates close in the months leading up to the election.
FiveThirtyEight had Lake up 2.5 percentage points, while RealClearPolitics had Lake with an advantage of 1.8 percentage points.
