Republican Kari Lake Blasts Democrat Katie Hobbs for Refusing to Debate in AZ Governor’s Race

Kari Lake, Arizona’s Republican gubernatorial candidate, ripped her Democrat opponent, Katie Hobbs, hours after her campaign announced she refuses to debate Lake.

“For the first time in the history of our state, there will be no Clean Elections gubernatorial debate,” Lake said in a video shared on Twitter. “Bucking state tradition, my opponent Katie Hobbs has made it official, she will not share a debate stage with me under any circumstance.”

Lake emphasized that she is “not entirely thrilled with the idea of sharing a debate stage with a twice-convicted racist like Katie Hobbs” but noted that “Arizona voters deserve” to see them go toe-to-toe on the issues.

“Now I’d like to speak directly to you, Katie. You think this issue is going to go away, that Arizonans will just throw up their hands and say, ‘Oh well, no debate this year.’ Well, you’re sorely mistaken,” Lake said.

“I have asked the Clean Elections Commission [CEC] to extend the deadline for you to confirm your attendance to the day of the debate,” the former Fox 10 Phoenix anchor continued. “Should you grow a spine between now and October 12, there will be an empty chair waiting for you on the debate stage.”

In lieu of a debate, Hobbs’s campaign manager Nicole DeMont proposed a town hall-style event to the CEC on Thursday. During a virtual meeting that day, CEC Chairman Damien Meyer asked DeMont if there was “any scenario in which Secretary Hobbs will share the stage with Ms. Lake in a traditional … debate format?”

“Well, I’m not going to answer a hypothetical question,” she replied before dodging a similar follow-up from Meyer.

The CEC ultimately rejected the Hobbs campaign’s proposal and gave them another week to work out details surrounding a debate with the Lake campaign. With four days remaining to come to a compromise, DeMont announced Monday that Hobbs, who in 2017 said “neo-nazi[s]” make up former President Donald Trump’s base of supporters, would not share the stage with a “conspiracy theorist like Kari Lake.”

She noted that Hobbs, who is Arizona’s secretary of state, “remains willing and eager to participate in a town hall style event.”