Arizonans elected Democratic Secretary of State Katie Hobbs for Governor, sending Kari Lake to the bottom of the mud.
Democratic Secretary of State Katie Hobbs has defeated Republican Kari Lake in Arizona's race for governor, NBC News projected Monday.
Hobbs' victory is key for Democrats in a presidential battleground state and a rebuke to a prominent election denier — although the closeness of the contest left the result up in the air for nearly a week.
“I am honored to have been selected to serve as the next Governor of Arizona,” Hobbs said in a statement Monday night. “I want to thank the voters for entrusting me with this immense responsibility. It is truly an honor of a lifetime, and I will do everything in my power to make you proud.”
A record number of early ballots were dropped off on Election Day in Maricopa County, officials said, which had to be processed in a more time-intensive manner that includes signature verification. Maricopa, the state's most populous county, said Sunday that it estimated that its count was 94% complete after it received a historic 290,000 of those early ballots on Election Day.
Lake, a MAGA firebrand and former local newscaster who closely linked her campaign to former President Donald Trump and his false claims of a rigged election in Arizona, ultimately fell short after polling in the final weeks of the campaign suggested she was grabbing the lead from Hobbs, who as secretary of state in 2020 vocally defended the state's election system and the accuracy of the count.
About 90 minutes after NBC News called the race for Hobbs, Lake tweeted: "Arizonans know BS when they see it."
Lake of course is not going to give up. Me, I expect Arizona Republicans to propose a recall election next spring, as California Republicans tried to do to Gov. Gavin Newsom. According to Arizona's recall process, Hobbs would have to be in office for at least six months, and then Republicans would need to collect enough signatures for a total of 25% of all 2022 voters within 120 days.
However even will all that, the soonest a recall could be put to voters is 2024 given that there's a 60-day period to review signatures, and that "The recall election will occur on the first consolidated election date that is at least 90 days in the future", meaning that there wouldn't be enough time to put it on the 2023 ballot (if off-year elections even count as "consolidated").
Keep an eye on that page to see if recall petitions are filed.
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