Arizona Dem Katie Hobbs Says She Won't Debate GOP 'Conspiracy Theorist' Kari Lake
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Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs (D) has declined an invitation to debate Republican opponent and Donald Trump acolyte Kari Lake, Hobbs’ gubernatorial campaign said Sunday.
In a statement issued to the Citizens Clean Elections Commission, which is responsible for organizing debates, Hobbs’ campaign manager Nicole DeMont said the debate would only help Lake’s goal of causing chaos.
“Unfortunately, debating a conspiracy theorist like Kari Lake ― whose entire campaign platform is to cause enormous chaos and make Arizona the subject of national ridicule ― would only lead to constant interruptions, pointless distractions, and childish name-calling,” Demont said.
Lake, a former TV news anchor who has been endorsed by Trump, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and MyPillow CEO and conspiracy theorist Mike Lindell, has embraced lies about the 2020 presidential election and said she would not have certified Joe Biden’s victory in Arizona.
Hobbs, who oversaw the 2020 election in the state, has faced a barrage of violent threats from Trump supporters who insist the election was stolen.
Ross Trumble, Lake’s campaign spokesperson, told The Associated Press that Lake would still show up to the debate stage on Oct. 12.
“Kari will keep her promise to the voters and debate,” Trumble said in a statement. “The empty chair across from her will show Arizonans just how little Katie Hobbs cares about them.”
Hobbs had also previously declined a debate with her Democratic primary opponent, who ended up doing a solo interview instead, the AP reported.
Demont said Sunday that Hobbs would instead be “willing and eager to participate in a town hall style event.”
But the state commission on Thursday dismissed an earlier request by Hobbs to change the format of the debate and instead hold two separate interviews. The commission gave Hobbs a week to hold talks with officials about smaller changes to the debate and change her mind.
Lake welcomed Thursday’s decision, saying, “It’s becoming clearer everyday that Hobbs’ strategy is to hide from Me, the Press, and the Voters throughout the entirety of this campaign.”
My official statement on @katiehobbs big loss today: pic.twitter.com/Mso7bA5vxM
— Kari Lake (@KariLake) September 8, 2022
Polling shows the two gubernatorial candidates tied in a neck-and-neck race, with poll aggregation site FiveThirtyEight showing a virtual dead heat as of Friday.
Lake has also decried the search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort, saying the investigation into whether the former president held classified material at his Florida property was “an incredibly horrendous abuse of power.”
The Republican candidate has also trashed journalists, calling them “corrupt” and saying “some of them probably should be locked up.”
This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.
