Staff Reports
Based on polling data, the Fox News Decision Desk predicts that Democratic Secretary of State Katie Hobbs will become Arizona's next governor. For the Republican nomination, she beat off Kari Lake, a former local news anchor.
Arizona law allows for recounts in close races.
Lake is a retired TV news anchor who left the Fox station in Phoenix after 22 years to run for governor. Lake barely won the GOP primary against a candidate favoured by Ducey in large part because of her sympathy for former President Donald Trump and his unfounded accusations that the 2020 election was "stolen" and rigged.
Lake ran on a platform that she called "common sense conservatism," which she said included a focus on border security, ending homelessness, prohibiting the teaching of critical race theory in Arizona schools, promoting parental choice in education, and rejecting abortion.
Secretary of State Hobbs is a former social worker and state legislator in Arizona. Arizona was one of a handful of states where now-President Biden just edged out Trump, and Hobbs garnered national recognition for upholding those results when the president unsuccessfully moved to reverse them.
During her campaign, she highlighted her intention to collaborate with law enforcement and border communities to increase security along Arizona's border with Mexico.
The refusal of Hobbs to participate in gubernatorial debates was a major point of criticism for Lake. According to Hobbs, if we debate lake, it would just give voice to conspiracy ideas.
The preceding is a summary of an article that originally appeared on Fox News.
