Democrat Katie Hobbs defeats MAGA favorite Kari Lake in high-stakes race for governor in Arizona

Democratic Secretary of State Katie Hobbs has defeated Republican Kari Lake in Arizona's race for governor, NBC News projected Monday.

Hobbs' victory is key for Democrats in a presidential battleground state and a rebuke to a prominent election denier — although the closeness of the contest left the result up in the air for nearly a week.

“I am honored to have been selected to serve as the next Governor of Arizona,” Hobbs said in a statement Monday night. “I want to thank the voters for entrusting me with this immense responsibility. It is truly an honor of a lifetime, and I will do everything in my power to make you proud.”

Arizona Democratic gubernatorial candidate Katie Hobbs at a campaign event in Phoenix on Nov. 2. Patrick T. Fallon / AFP - Getty Images

A record number of early ballots were dropped off on Election Day in Maricopa County, officials said, which had to be processed in a more time-intensive manner that includes signature verification. Maricopa, the state's most populous county, said Sunday that it estimated that its count was 94% complete after it received a historic 290,000 of those early ballots on Election Day.

Lake, a MAGA firebrand and former local newscaster who closely linked her campaign to former President Donald Trump and his false claims of a rigged election in Arizona, ultimately fell short after polling in the final weeks of the campaign suggested she was grabbing the lead from Hobbs, who as secretary of state in 2020 vocally defended the state's election system and the accuracy of the count.

About 90 minutes after NBC News called the race for Hobbs, Lake tweeted: "Arizonans know BS when they see it."

Hobbs’ low-key approach during the campaign contrasted sharply with that of Lake, who seemed omnipresent on the trail. Lake’s television charisma boosted her in the race but did not appear to make up for voter concerns about her positions on the 2020 election and abortion rights and how closely she aligned herself with the former president, who saw independent voters in the state abandon the Republican Party during his presidency, allowing Joe Biden to flip the once-ruby-red state.

The stakes were high. Arizona presented perhaps the greatest chance for an election-denying candidate to win a swing-state governor’s race this fall, with the winner having a direct role in the state’s certification of the 2024 presidential vote.

But Arizona was subjected to some of the highest inflation rates anywhere in the country, and voters were also concerned about high numbers of undocumented immigrants crossing into the state from Mexico. In the closing weeks of her campaign, Lake focused on the economy, education and crime rather than her push to change election laws.

Still, election administration took center stage in the final days of the campaign, on Election Day itself and in the days that followed as election officials faced a series of snafus and votes took days to count at a slow pace. Lake and other statewide GOP candidates blasted the process, some suggesting without evidence that nefarious activity was afoot.

At her election night event, Lake said, “We had a big day today, and don’t let those cheaters and crooks make you think anything different,” adding that she predicted victory “within hours.”

“We will declare victory, and we will get to work turning this around,” she said.