The Democrat was elected Arizona governor on Monday, defeating an ally of Donald Trump who said the 2020 election was rigged and refused to say she would accept the results of her race.
As Arizona's secretary of state, she rose to prominence as a steadfast defender of the legitimacy of the last election and warned her opponent that she would be an agent of chaos. Trump is weighing down his allies in a crucial battleground state as the former president gears up for an announcement of a 2020 presidential run.
She will be the next governor because she was not allowed to run again due to term limit laws. She is the first Democrat to be elected governor in Arizona in six years.
"For the Arizonans who did not vote for me, I will work just as hard for you, because I believe there is so much more that connects us." This was more than just an election, it was about moving this state forward and facing the challenges of our time.
Lake didn't say anything after the race was over.
After the latest round of vote releases gave her a big enough lead, the AP decided she would not relinquish it. Even though Lake had been posting larger margins in vote updates from Maricopa County, she wasn't gaining enough votes to overtake Hobbs and was running out of votes.
The count of late-arriving ballots continued for days after the election.
Arizona has been central to efforts by Trump and his allies to cast doubt on Joe Biden's 2020 presidential victory with false claims of fraud. Many Trump-endorsed candidates failed in general elections this year, though his pick in the Nevada governor's race defeated an incumbent Democrat.
Prior to entering politics, he was a social worker who worked with homeless youth and an executive with a large domestic violence shelter. She was elected to the Legislature in 2010 and served in the House and Senate.
The secretary of state was thrust into the center of a political storm as Arizona became the focal point of efforts by Trump and his allies to overturn the results of the 2020 election he lost. She defended the integrity of the vote count.
She raised millions of dollars thanks to the attention. Other prominent Democrats declined to run when she announced her candidacy for governor.
She stuck mostly to scripted and choreographed public appearances. She didn't want to participate in a debate with Lake because he would make false accusations and spout conspiracy theories.
She bet voters wouldn't like Lake's combative tone toward Democrats and the establishment Republicans who have dominated state government.
Many Democrats feared that her timidity would turn off voters and that's why they were surprised that she won. The majority of Arizona voters live in the metropolitan Phoenix and Tucson areas. She spent a lot of time in rural areas trying to minimize her losses.
Lake has anchored the evening news in Phoenix for more than twenty years. She ran as a fierce critic of the mainstream media. She was praised by Trump for her steadfast commitment to questioning the results of the 2020 election even after she won the GOP primary.
She baselessly accused election officials of taking too long to count the votes as she narrowly missed out on the election.
There was a problem with printers at about a third of the vote centers in the county. The election officials told voters to put their ballot in a separate box, but Republican leaders told their supporters to ignore the instructions.
About 1% of the total vote in the county was affected by the problem.
Sheriff Paul Penzone said that he increased security around the elections center on Monday because he was expecting the race to be called and that emotions could run high. He said that demonstrators have been outside for several days.
Hours before the race call, Penzone told reporters that he wanted to be sure that they were prepared.
Two years ago, armed and angry protesters descended on the elections building in downtown Phoenix after Fox News called Arizona for Biden, marking the first time a Democrat won the state in more than two decades.
That's right.
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