Democratic candidate Katie Hobbs (50.39%) defeated Kari Lake (49.61%) in the race to become Arizona's new governor after a close and contentious race that went down to the wire. With a difference of 0.7% (less than 20,000 votes), the Democratic Party has conquered one of the states it had not governed since 2009. Hobbs will succeed Republican Governor Doug Ducey in office.
Hobbs only received a higher number of votes in five of the state's fifteen counties, although she did receive more support than Lake in Arizona's two most populous cities, Phoenix and Tucson. Through her Twitter account, the Democratic hopeful thanked Arizonans for showing their confidence in her:
Democracy is worth the wait.
Thank you, Arizona.
I am so honored and so proud to be your next Governor. pic.twitter.com/O6ZFSHbIBe
- Katie Hobbs (@katiehobbs) November 15, 2022
The midterm elections in Arizona were shrouded in controversy. Several of the voting machines in Maricopa County, the second largest county in the U.S., malfunctioned and affected the submission of several thousand ballots, even though the county's Board of Supervisors Chairman Bill Gates confirmed that the ballots "were secure."
Because of the election problems in Arizona, Kari Lake was highly critical of the election process, going so far as to say she would ban mail-in voting. She asserted that "Arizonans know BS when they see it."
Arizonans know BS when they see it.
- Kari Lake (@KariLake) November 15, 2022
