Arizona Elections Chief Katie Hobbs Won’t Recuse Herself in Governor’s Race Against Kari Lake

Arizona Secretary of State and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Katie Hobbs speaks at a press conference near the Evo A. DeConcini Courthouse in Tucson, Ariz., on Oct. 7, 2022. Mario Tama/Getty Images

Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, the Democratic nominee for governor, will not recuse herself from election duties for the 2022 midterm elections.

Her opponent, Republican Kari Lake, and some former secretaries of state have called on Hobbs to not oversee the election. They noted that it could create the appearance of a conflict of interest in a state where there have been claims of voter fraud during the 2020 election.

“Elected secretaries of state in Arizona have overseen elections where they’re on the ballot since statehood. This has never been an issue until now,” Hobbs told CNN’s Jake Tapper last week.

Hobbs added she is “not going to recuse myself from the job that the voters elected me to do, and for which I took an oath of office, to uphold the Constitution of the United States, and the Constitution and laws of the State of Arizona. I have done that throughout my tenure, as secretary of state. And I will continue to do that, until I leave office on Jan. 2.”

A polling average provided by RealClearPolitics shows the Donald Trump-endorsed Lake is leading Hobbs by about 4.5 percentage points. Hobbs has refused to debate Lake, a former local TV host.

Hobbs said the demands for her to recuse are a distraction.

Arizona Republican candidate for governor Kari Lake speaks with supporters at a rally in Phoenix on Nov. 3, 2022. Allan Stein/The Epoch Times

Former Arizona Secretaries of State Richard Mahoney, a Democrat, and Ken Bennett, a Republican, called on Hobbs to recuse herself in a recent interview with Time magazine.

“I think it would be wise if the secretary of state seconded responsibility for ministerial oversight to either the attorney general or the Maricopa County recorder,” Mahoney told the publication. Bennett said she should allow “a deputy secretary or somebody else” to oversee the election.

She’s also faced criticism for refusing to debate Lake.

“The fact is, at this point in the game, we’re five days off on the election, I am not second guessing any decision we made,” she said on CNN about not debating. “I am proud of the campaign that we are running, I am confident in the campaign we’re running.”

And last month, Hobbs said Lake is “only interested in creating a spectacle,” which is why she won’t debate her. “She only wants a scenario where she can control the dialogue, and she’s refused to sit down in a one-on-one, lengthy conversation to really clarify with Arizonans where she is on the issues. She’s the one who’s afraid of talking to voters where she’s at,” Hobbs said in response to a comment from CNN’s Dana Bash that “a lot of Democrats are questioning your decision.”