Republican Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey congratulated Democrat Katie Hobbs on Wednesday as her opponent, Republican Kari Lake, won the state’s gubernatorial election. refuses to accept race.
Last week, Hobbs was projected to win the race for the Arizona governor’s mansion. With 99% of the vote counted as of Wednesday, Hobbs will defeat Lake by nearly 17,000 votes in Grand Canyon State. Margins above that limit will trigger an automatic recalculation.
“Today I congratulated Governor-elect Katie Hobbs on her victory in a hard-fought battle and offered my full support as she prepares to assume leadership of the state of Arizona,” Ducey said in a statement.
“My administration will work to change this as smooth and seamless as possible” he added. “Our duty is to ensure that Arizona’s 24th governor and his team can hit the ground running and continue our state’s incredible momentum.”
Lake, who was endorsed by former President Donald Trump, has raised election integrity concerns centered on Arizona’s Maricopa County, where on Election Day, 70 polling places experienced voting machine issues. Although residents of the state’s most populous county were still able to cast ballots, according to state election officials.
Lake’s campaign called for an extension of in-person voting on Election Day due to disturbances in Maricopa County, but a judge rejected the request, arguing that there was no evidence that a voter was unable to vote on November 8. .
“It’s beyond 2020. I mean what they did in 2020, it looks like they did it again, and then some. And for the governor, if he says he’s going to certify it, and
Katie Hobbs To attest to this, I think they really think long and hard,” Lake told Steve Bannon on his “War Room” podcast on Wednesdays.
Lake has filed a lawsuit against Maricopa County election officials seeking more information about the problems in the election and how many voters were affected.
County elections officials have until Monday to certify the results of the 2022 midterm races. So far Cochise and Mohave counties have refused to certify their election results But he is expected to be forced to do so by Monday.
Arizona’s secretary of state, Joe Hobbs, has until December 5 to certify the election results.