Democratic Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, who is at the forefront of the battle over the state Senate GOP’s bogus 2020 election results “audit,” launched a bid for governor on Wednesday.
In the video announcing her campaign, Hobbs highlights her efforts to combat Trump-loyal Republicans’ attacks on the 2020 election in Arizona-which has made her a target in MAGAland.
“When you’re under attack, some would have you believe you have two choices: fight or give in,” Hobbs says in the video. “But there’s a third option: Get the job done.”
She asserts that “the other side isn’t offering policies to make our lives better,” just “conspiracies that only make our lives worse,” as she touts her office’s success in running the election during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We did our job. They refuse to do theirs,” Hobbs says. “And there’s a lot more work to be done. That’s why I’m running for governor.”
Hobbs has become the chief defender of Arizona’s 2020 election process against Trump and Republicans’ efforts to undermine it through bogus lawsuits based on false conspiracy theories. That crusade that is now concentrated in a sketchy audit of the election results commissioned by state GOP senators.
The secretary of state has slammed the audit as a partisan gambit aimed at fueling the GOP base’s refusal to accept that Trump lost the election. She has similarly criticized GOP lawmakers’ sweeping bill to slap restrictions on voting.
Now Arizona Republicans are using the legislature’s budget process to try to strip Hobbs of her authority to defend Arizona’s election laws in the courts. The bill is targeted specifically at Hobbs-it is set to expire in January 2023.
