Hobbs may prove to be a very good governor, but she wouldn't even debate Lake. Lake lost because everyone knew she was either insane or full of ****.
Previous to 2022, Hobbs was a good enough Democratic candidate to run for a state wide office in Arizona and win. AZ voters knew her.
Is that good or not good? Conventional wisdom is to debate. The other argument is what can you even gain debating someone that isn't at all anchored in facts, that it's only downhill with no upside. She won, so can't exactly say her method is not good... and it does now give some credence in not debating crazies.
She also way underperformed Kelly (understandable) and the new SoS. SoS is a race few people pay attention to, so it's a good proxy for generic voting patterns. That race was called days ago, while Hobbs is going to barely win.
They already ran out our last county elections administrator. Are they just going to install a revolving door at the Harris County Elections Commission and we get a new guy every year? Ummm, but more importantly, many people died avoidable deaths.
While it was a risk, it was genius. There was nothing to be gained by giving Lake that kind of platform. The correct answer is "both".
Never argue with an idiot.. They will just bring you down to their level and beat you with experience... T_Man
Hobbs might and if I was an AZ I would certainly take her over someone who said they wouldn't certify the election if their team lost. The problem still is being unwilling afraid to face your political opponents. Yes Lake would've turned it into the type of shyteshow that the presidential debates were and yes Hobbs is correct that Lake isn't what AZ needs. She should have been willing to say that to Lake's face on a public stage. As Governor Hobbs is going to have to deal with a lot of critics and many of them very well might be repeating the same things as Lake. She's going to be dealing with a lot of tough problems. Just saying you don't want to deal with them because it makes they're infuriating doesn't look good for someone to lead the state.
At the end of the day this won't matter and people will forget. This has far less to do with Hobbs and more to do with the AZ GOP self-immolating. They had multiple competent officials (including statewide elected officials) who could've run to be governor and instead they chose Kari Lake. And from a wider perspective, its important to note that in this election Arizona voted to the left of Nevada. The left turn of Arizona has accelerated rapidly since 2018 and shows no signs of stopping if the AZ GOP keep nominating crazies. The legislature will probably flip in the next four years at this rate and then Republicans will truly be in the wilderness. There will be lots of gridlock over the next four years but the AZ legislature barely did anything before so this won't be new. The trendline is truly terrible for Arizona Republicans. The country shifted 5 points to the right but in Arizona Democrats shifted a few points to the left of 2020. These trends are unsustainable unless the Arizona GOP decides to start nominating candidates that aren't morons.
Sure, but they don't necessarily skew far to the right. The people that have died from Covid after the first year are largely both older and anti-vaccine, both traits connected to one political party. That's what makes Covid deaths unique.
I wouldn't draw a conclusion like that. Election strategy vs being a governor. We see all kinds of strategies to get elected and once elected, different strategies to run the office. That's pretty typical with exceptions (someone that continues to campaign while executing a job).
I think AZ is shifting leftwards but I don't think the outlook is truly terrible for AZ Republicans. Their other statewide candidates won handily so it is very possible for a Republican in AZ to capture the governorship and Senate seats in the future. I look at it as not so much Katie Hobbs winning but Kari Lake losing. The trendline that is terrible for AZ is MAGA candidates. Trump has been toxic both in driving out people like Jeff Flake and in his association with people like Lake, Masters and Martha McSally.
One developing future story in AZ was that Krysten Sinema did nothing to help the AZ Democrats running for election this year. She's been frequently accused of not showing interest in both not showing loyalty to her party and doing her job as Senator. In 2024 she is very likely going to be primaried and it will be interesting to see what happens. If she wins the primary there could be a split in support for her that could be an opening for Republicans. https://thehill.com/homenews/campai...did-nothing-to-help-arizona-dems-in-midterms/ Gallego says Sinema ‘did nothing’ to help Arizona Dems in midterms Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) on Sunday said Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) “did nothing” to help Arizona Democrats in the midterm elections. “This year, the reason Democrats won is because we fought together as a party. I was out there campaigning for every Democrat in Arizona. I was personally donating, raising money for them, for our senators, for everyone up and down the ticket. We fought as a team in Arizona, and we won. Sen. Sinema was nowhere to be found — at all,” Gallego said on MSNBC’s “American Voices.” “You did not see her at one public event for anybody, and when we have some of these races that are really in the mix right now, she could’ve been a very good surrogate to help out a lot of our candidates, and she did nothing, because she only cares about herself. She doesn’t care about how this would help us take control of the Senate,” Gallego said. Arizona election officials are still counting ballots in the state six days after the midterms. The high-profile gubernatorial race between Democrat Katie Hobbs and Trump-backed Republican Kari Lake is still uncalled, with 93 percent of the state’s vote tallied and Hobbs up just 1 percentage point. Two of Arizona’s nine House races, both with Republicans leading, still haven’t been called. Gallego was projected to win his reelection bid in the state’s 3rd District. Democrats have pulled off surprising midterm wins, staving off the GOP’s “red wave” and bringing the battle for control of the House much closer than expected, but key races are treacherously tight. Gallego, who has floated a possible 2024 challenge against Sinema, has also accused the senator of wanting Democrats to lose control of Congress. The Democratic Party “can’t let this happen,” Gallego said Sunday of Sinema’s inaction. “She either needs to get on the team, get involved or try to make some future decision about what she wants to do with her career,” Gallego said. Asked what he hopes Sinema learned from this year’s midterms, Gallego said, “I don’t think she’ll learn.”
