Democrat Katie Hobbs had a small lead over Republican challenger Kari Lake on Sunday as the vote count dwindles, making Lake’s road to victory more difficult.
Hobbs led Lake by just over 26,000 votes Sunday night, with a small difference of 1 percentage point between the two. The race was still too close to call, meaning the tension will continue.
Over the course of Sunday, with more vote counts rolling in across the state, Lake saw the lead languish for Hobbs, who had 36,000 votes at one point Sunday.
Lake gained ground among voters in Maricopa County, where officials reported a major update of 97,000 votes in the evening. Lake won the majority of those votes, more than 54%, swallowing Hobbs’ lead in the county and reducing it from about 57,000 votes to 48,500.
In an update on Maricopa County’s vote count on Saturday, including ballots dropped on Election Day, Lake won 52% and Hobbs won 48%.
But as the number of ballots remaining to be counted dwindles, Lake’s road to surpass Hobbs’ statewide advantage becomes more difficult — but not impossible.
Nicole DeMont, Hobbs’ campaign manager, noted in a statement Sunday that Hobbs has been ahead of Lake since Election Day, and “obviously this isn’t going to change.”
“With the latest tabular results from Maricopa, Pinal and Pima counties, Katie Hobbs is the unequivocal favorite to become Arizona’s next governor,” the statement read.
Prior to Sunday’s big update in Maricopa County, Lake had to win 56% of the outstanding votes statewide. After the update, she was supposed to gain more than 58%.
Election Coverage: Live news updates | Arizona Election Results
Pima County, Arizona’s second largest city and home to Tucson, added about 12,000 votes to the total, with Hobbs winning 60% against Lake’s 40%. It helped Hobbs extend her lead slightly, narrowing the gap between the candidates to 1.6 percentage points, before Maricopa County’s latest results dampened that.
Officials in Maricopa County, which Phoenix is a part of, have yet to count fewer than 100,000 ballots. The statewide total is about 160,000, according to statistics published by the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office.
Candidates ask for patience
Hobbs, 52, is the Arizona Secretary of State and former state legislator. She campaigned for governor on promises to defend democracy — as she did after the 2020 election, and as a result she was threatened — and to restore abortion rights after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against Roe v. Wade earlier this year. had fallen.
Lake, 53, is a former TV news anchor who zoomed into the national spotlight and several Saturday Night Live sketches while adhering to false claims of widespread voter fraud championed by former President Donald Trump. Lake spent 22 years as part of an anchor duo on Phoenix’s Fox 10 station. She has put border security, electoral reform and a “tough love” homelessness policy at the heart of her campaign.
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Both candidates urged their supporters to remain patient as the vote count continues, although Lake has also raised doubts about the length of the trial and election procedures.
“Team Hobbs spirits are high and we will keep the course, be patient and let our local election officials do their job without fear or interference,” Hobbs said in a video posted to social media Saturday night.
Lake said in an appearance on Fox News’ Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo that she was confident she would win the race.
“We need to go in and restore confidence in our election, we can’t be the laughingstock of the election here in Arizona,” she told Bartiromo.
Reach reporter Stacey Barchenger at [email protected] or 480-416-5669. follow her Twitter @sbarchenger.
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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona Governor Election Results: Kari Lake Cuts Katie Hobbs’ Leadership
