(Mark Pellin, Headline USA) It took less than a week for either egregiously incompetent or blatantly corrupt officials in Maricopa County, Arizona, to once again make a mockery of election integrity, as Democrat governor candidate Katie Hobbs, the incumbent secretary of state, appeared anxious Monday to certify a contentious election that she allegedly won over Republican challenger Kari Lake.
Multiple outlets called the race for Hobbs, nearly a week after Election Day and after a raft of suspect mail-in, absentee and late-arriving ballots broke to favor the Democrat.
Former President Donald Trump, who endorsed Lake and is widely expected to announce another presidential run on Tuesday, slammed the results from Arizona.
“Wow! They just took the election away from Kari Lake,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “It’s really bad out there!”
After claiming that the latest round of vote drops gave Hobbs a lead that the Associated Press “determined she would not relinquish,” the heavily biased media organ called the race for Hobbs, concluding that even though Lake “had been posting increasingly larger margins in vote updates from Maricopa County, she was not gaining a big enough share to overtake Hobbs, and was running out of remaining votes.”
Hobbs had consistently refused to debate Lake, and in at least one high-profile incident colluded with her mainstream media allies to smear Lake with false reports of attacks of the Democrat’s campaign headquarters.
Lake had been surging in polls and leading in many before last week’s election, and on Monday delivered a blunt message after the governor’s race was called for Hobbs.
Arizonans know BS when they see it.
— Kari Lake (@KariLake) November 15, 2022
Shouldn't Election Officials be impartial? The guys running the Election have made it their mission to defeat America First Republicans. Unbelievable. https://t.co/Lz12h9VRX1
— Kari Lake (@KariLake) November 15, 2022
Lake, who ran an aggressive pro-liberty campaign that frequently clashed with mainstream media, didn’t appear ready to concede an election that was plagued by malfunctioning tabulators, long lines that likely disenfranchised thousand of MAGA voters and suspect mail-in and other late-arriving ballots that favored Hobbs. Lake’s campaign called for anyone who thought they were denied their voting rights to step forward and be counted.
If there was an issue with your Ballot or an issue voting on Election Day, please submit that information here: https://t.co/QT9hsOZvTi
— Kari Lake (@KariLake) November 14, 2022
Others noted the striking comparisons to other Arizona races that broke Republican, in contrast to the gubernatorial race.
Something is very wrong in Arizona.
It makes no mathematical sense that the GOP State Treasurer won reelection by a quarter million votes but Kari Lake and Abe Hamadeh are still behind. pic.twitter.com/ayoxFUSDbl
— John Cardillo (@johncardillo) November 14, 2022
At the same time, the latest updates showed that Republicans held the Arizona state legislature, even with Democrats spending $8.1 million to try to flip both Chambers.
“Despite national Democrat groups pouring unprecedented amounts of money into Arizona to try to flip the GOP-controlled Legislature, Republicans triumphed and held both chambers,” said RSLC President Dee Duncan.
With that as a backdrop, along with late-arriving and mail-in ballots once again conspiring against Republican candidates, social media was lit up with cries of foul in Arizona’s race for governor.
Anyone who has attacked @KariLake as an "election denier" needs to realize one simple fact: Katie Hobbs just proved Kari Lake's point.
— Kyle Becker (@kylenabecker) November 15, 2022
Katie Hobbs is the top election officer in Arizona, Maricopa election officials are on record as anti-America First, 20% of the voting machines failed in republican strongholds on Election Day, counting dragged on for days, and tonight MSNBC declared Kari Lake defeated. Bullshit.
— First Words (@unscriptedmike) November 15, 2022
Sooo… Arizona's Republican State Treasurer won reelection by a quarter million votes… but Kari Lake and Abe Hamadeh are both losing… nothing to see here… everyone move along.
— Tim Young (@TimRunsHisMouth) November 14, 2022
