Reason and sanity prevail as Arizona sends Kari Lake to the showers
Kari Lake #KariLake
Reason and sanity have broken out across Arizona as voters rejected the chaos and conspiracy theories that for two years have rocked the country.
In short, they sent Kari Lake to the showers.
Lake joined Blake Masters and Mark Finchem in an absolute downpour of rejection from moderate Republican and right leaning independents – the ones Lake told to “get the hell out” of one her final campaign rallies.
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The ones who now are key to rescuing Republican prospects after two years of the hard right’s allegiance to Donald Trump and his grievances over the 2020 election.
The “party of McCain”, it seems, is not yet dead, despite Lake’s best efforts with her now-famous infamous stake to the heart. In fact, it may be rising once again.
All that is left now is Abe Hamadeh, the 31-year-old lightly experienced attorney general candidate who bested far better qualified Republican candidates, based entirely on the singular qualification of Trump’s endorsement. He is still hanging on with 49/9% of the vote.
But Arizona has sent a message to the country and it’s this:
Donald Trump is so yesterday.
Katie Hobbs, meanwhile, is today in Arizona. Not so much because she’s Katie Hobbs but because she’s Katie Not Lake.
With cascading losses across the state, Lake needed 65% of Monday night’s Maricopa County vote. She got not quite 57%.
And so Hobbs, the quiet Democrat who was almost an after-thought during the campaign, will be Arizona’s next governor. Hobbs, who didn’t debate her opponents and yet won anyway, based on the fact that she’s rooted in reality.
Gov.-elect Hobbs won’t transform Arizona politics. But she’ll serve as a valuable check on a state Legislature that will be run by the MAGA machine.
That’s a good thing, given the anti-democratic bills that crew is already dreaming up.
For those who are calling Arizona a purple state, I’m not sure that’s quite true (though certainly, we are headed that way).
I think we are more black-and blue from two years of Cyber Ninjas and Kari Lake and Kelli Ward and Andy Biggs and Paul Gosar and Senate President Karen Fann and Wendy Rogers and Turning Point USA’s Tyler Bowyer and all the far-right fanatics that have sold our beloved state a bill of goods.
That the 2020 election was stolen even though there’s not even a shred of evidence that that it’s true.
Fortunately, voters saw through the schtick in 2022 and sent a message to the country.
Of course, it’s not over. Next comes the gnashing of teeth and the filing of lawsuits and soliciting of cash from the Republican faithful to try to stop certification of the election. (Heavy emphasis on the soliciting of cash.) Expect Steve Bannon and those mules people to descend upon our state.
It goes without saying that the Arizona Republican Party needs a reboot – that is, if mainstream Republicans want to run Arizona again.
At this point in time, however, that’s still a big if.
Reach Roberts at laurie.roberts@arizonarepublic.com. Follow her on Twitter at @LaurieRoberts.
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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Farewell, Kari Lake. Reason and sanity prevail in Arizona