Kari Lake sounds off after being projected to lose gov race: ‘Arizonans know BS when they see it’
Democrat Katie Hobbs on Monday night was projected to beat Trump-backed Republican Kari Lake to be the next governor of Arizona.
Hobbs, Arizona’s secretary of state, edged out Lake, a former television news anchor who closely aligned with former President Donald Trump, 76, and questioned the results of the 2020 presidential election.
Lake, 53, was the latest high-profile Trump-backed candidate to lose her race. The candidate was not ready to throw in the towel.
“Arizonans know BS when they see it,” Lake tweeted Monday night.
Hobbs, 52, garnered 50.4% of the votes cast in the razor-thin race out of the roughly 2.5 million ballots counted so far about a week after Election Day, according to an NBC News tally Monday.
Hobbs would replace outgoing Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey, a Republican who has served since 2015 and is term-limited out of office.
The counting of votes went on for days as officials received a large number of late-arriving ballots.
“Democracy is worth the wait. Thank you, Arizona,” Hobbs tweeted Monday night. “I am so honored and so proud to be your next Governor.”
Hobbs’ victory makes her the first Democrat to win the office in Arizona since 2006.
Hobbs warned voters ahead of Election Day that Lake would cause chaos in the state’s top office as the former social worker ran a cautious campaign and even refused to debate her GOP counterpart.
Lake, often bombastic toward media members, Democrats and even some Republicans on the campaign trail, refused to say if she would accept the results of this election leading up to Monday’s defeat.
Other Trump-endorsed candidates to lose closely watched races include Dr. Mehmet Oz in the Pennsylvania Senate race, Blake Masters in the Arizona Senate race, Adam Laxalt in the Nevada Senate race and Doug Mastriano in the Pennsylvania governor’s race.
A couple of Trump’s high-profile picks to win their races include JD Vance in the Ohio Senate race and Joe Lombardo in Nevada’s governor’s race.