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WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has cleared the way for the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol to get phone records belonging to the leader of the Arizona Republican Party.
The high court on Monday rejected GOP state chair Kelli Ward’s request to halt the turnover of records while a lawsuit proceeds. The court lifted a temporary order that had been put in place by Justice Elena Kagan that had paused anything from happening while Ward’s emergency request was at the Supreme Court.
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Ward has said her First Amendment rights would be chilled if investigators were able to learn whom she spoke with while trying to challenge former President Donald Trump’s 2020 election defeat.
As is common in situations involving emergency requests to the high court, the justices did not explain their reasoning in their three-sentence order. Justice Clarence Thomas and Justice Samuel Alito said they would have sided with Ward but also did not elaborate.
Thomas’ wife Virginia “Ginni” Thomas is one of the people who was interviewed by the Jan. 6 committee and has stood by the false claim that the 2020 election was fraudulent. She had urged Republican lawmakers in Arizona after the election to choose their own slate of electors.
“We’re glad that two justices thought that the First Amendment associational interests implicated by the case were serious enough to warrant even the drastic step of a Supreme Court emergency stay,” said Alexander Kolodin, Ward’s attorney. ”And we hope that lawmakers and officials that might think of targeting people for engaging in First Amendment protected political association will hear this as a warning shot and think twice before doing it.”
A federal appeals court panel previously ruled 2-1 against Ward and said the committee should get records of calls she made and received from just before the November 2020 election to Jan. 31, 2021. That includes a period when Ward was pushing for Trump’s election defeat to be overturned and Congress was set to certify the results in favor of Democrat Joe Biden.
Ruling against Ward at the appeals court level were judges appointed by presidents of different parties. Barry Silverman, an appointee of Democratic President Bill Clinton, and Eric Miller, a Trump appointee, both ruled against Ward. Judge Sandra Ikuta, an appointee of Republican President George W. Bush, dissented.
The appeals court ruling followed a September decision by a federal judge in Phoenix who also ruled against Ward.
Kelli Ward and her husband, Michael Ward, were presidential electors who would have voted for Trump in the Electoral College had he won Arizona. Both signed a document falsely claiming they were Arizona’s true electors, despite Biden’s victory in the state.
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Hobbs wins Arizona governor’s race, flipping state for Dems
PHOENIX (AP) — Democrat Katie Hobbs was elected Arizona governor on Monday, defeating an ally of Donald Trump who falsely claimed the 2020 election was rigged and refused to say she would accept the results of her race this year.
Hobbs, who is Arizona’s secretary of state, rose to prominence as a staunch defender of the legitimacy of the last election and warned that her Republican rival, former television news anchor Kari Lake, would be an agent of chaos. Hobbs’ victory adds further evidence that Trump is weighing down his allies in a crucial battleground state as the former president gears up for an announcement of a 2024 presidential run.
She will succeed Republican Gov. Doug Ducey, who was prohibited by term limit laws from running again. She’s the first Democrat to be elected governor in Arizona since Janet Napolitano in 2006.
“For the Arizonans who did not vote for me, I will work just as hard for you — because even in this moment of division, I believe there is so much more that connects us,” Hobbs said in a statement declaring victory. “This was not just about an election — it was about moving this state forward and facing the challenges of our generation.”
Lake tweeted after the call, “Arizonans know BS when they see it.”
The Associated Press called the governor’s race for Hobbs after the latest round of vote releases gave her a big enough lead that the AP determined she would not relinquish it. The AP concluded that, even though Lake had been posting increasingly larger margins in vote updates from Maricopa County, she was not gaining a big enough share to overtake Hobbs and was running out of remaining votes.
Vote counting had gone on for days since the Tuesday election, as officials continued to tally massive amounts of late-arriving ballots.
A onetime Republican stronghold where Democrats made gains during the Trump era, Arizona has been central to efforts by Trump and his allies to cast doubt on Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential victory with false claims of fraud. This year, many Trump-endorsed candidates faltered in general elections in battleground states, though his pick in the Nevada governor’s race, Republican Joe Lombardo, defeated an incumbent Democrat.
Before entering politics, Hobbs was a social worker who worked with homeless youth and an executive with a large domestic violence shelter in the Phoenix area. She was elected to the state Legislature in 2010, serving one term in the House and three terms in the Senate, rising to minority leader.
Hobbs eked out a narrow win in 2018 as secretary of state and was thrust into the center of a political storm as Arizona became the centerpiece of the efforts by Trump and his allies to overturn the results of the 2020 election he lost. She appeared constantly on cable news defending the integrity of the vote count.
The attention allowed her to raise millions of dollars and raise her profile. When she announced her campaign for governor, other prominent Democrats declined to run and Hobbs comfortably won her primary.
She ran a cautious campaign, sticking largely to scripted and choreographed public appearances. She declined to participate in a debate with Lake, contending that Lake would turn it into a spectacle by spouting conspiracy theories and making false accusations.
She bet instead that voters would recoil against Lake, who picked verbal fights with journalists as cameras rolled and struck a combative tone toward Democrats and even the establishment Republicans who have long dominated state government.
Pre-election polls showed the race was tied, but Hobbs’ victory was still a surprise to many Democrats who feared her timidity would turn off voters. She overcame expectations in Maricopa and Pima counties, the metro Phoenix and Tucson areas where the overwhelming majority of Arizona voters live. She also spent considerable time in rural areas, looking to minimize her losses in regions that traditionally support Republicans.
Lake is well known in much of the state after anchoring the evening news in Phoenix for more than two decades. She ran as a fierce critic of the mainstream media, which she said is unfair to Republicans. She earned Trump’s admiration for her staunch commitment to questioning the results of the 2020 election, a stand she never wavered from even after winning the GOP primary.
She baselessly accused election officials of slow-rolling the vote count this year and prioritizing Democratic ballots as she narrowly trailed Hobbs for days following the election.
Lake has cited a problem with printers at about a third of Maricopa County vote centers that led on-site tabulators to reject some ballots. Election officials told voters to put ballots in a separate box to be counted later, but Republican leaders told their supporters to ignore that instruction and lines in some places backed up.
The problem affected about 7% of ballots cast in person on Election Day and about 1% of the total cast in the county.
Maricopa County Sheriff Paul Penzone said he increased security around the elections center Monday in anticipation that the race would be called and emotions could run hot, though he said there was no specific threat. Demonstrators have gathered outside the building for several days but have remained peaceful, he said.
“I think we’re getting close to the end game so I want to be sure that we’re prepared,” Penzone told reporters in a news conference hours before the race call.
The sheriff’s office was caught off guard two years ago when armed and angry protesters descended on the elections building in downtown Phoenix after Fox News and the AP called Arizona for Biden, marking the first time a Democrat won the state in more than two decades.
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Learn more about the issues and factors at play in the midterms at https://apnews.com/hub/explaining-the-elections. And follow the AP’s election coverage of the 2022 elections at https://apnews.com/hub/2022-midterm-elections.
Three Maricopa County judges are losing their judicial retention elections
Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios
"Arizona may be on the verge of booting three sitting judges from office in one election. Only three judges have been rejected in the nearly 50 years since Arizona adopted its judicial retention election system.
State of play: Maricopa County Superior Court judges Rusty Crandell, Stephen Hopkins and Howard Sukenic are losing their retention elections, and are down by more votes than are left to count.
Context: Under the system adopted by voters in 1974, Superior Court judges in Arizona's most populous counties, along with those from the Court of Appeals and Arizona Supreme Court justices, are picked through merit selection. That's a system where governors appoint people from lists of candidates selected by independent commissioners.
- Those judges must stand in retention elections every four years in which voters decide whether to keep them on the bench.
- Superior court judges in smaller counties are still chosen by voters in direct elections.
Between the lines: All three judges got relatively poor reviews from the Arizona Commission on Judicial Performance Review, which was established in 1992 to set performance standards. . .
Flashback: Voters had only rejected judges three times prior to this year's election.
- In 1978, voters removed Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Fred Hyder and Arizona Court of Appeals Judge Gary Nelson.
- Voters rejected Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Benjamin Norris in 2014 after 25 of 28 commissioners found that he didn't meet judicial performance standards.
Of note: Crandell is one of 15 finalists for three positions on the Court of Appeals Division I — which will be selected by Gov. Doug Ducey — so he could theoretically get a new job on the bench if he loses his retention election."
MORE PHOENIX STUFF TO FLUFF...
Illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios
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State of play: Instawork, a staffing platform that connects businesses with hourly employees, is releasing about 1,000 Super Bowl shifts on its app this week.
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Arizona governor race: Democrat Katie Hobbs defeats Trump-backed Kari Lake
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Arizona Democratic gubernatorial candidate Katie Hobbs greets supporters during a campaign event in Phoenix earlier this month. Photo: Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
Katie Hobbs has won the Arizona governor’s race against Trump-backed Republican Kari Lake, AP reported, and will become the first Democrat to win the post since 2006.
Why it matters: Secretary of State Hobbs' win comes as a further rebuke to former President Trump, whose endorsed candidates lost in vital races for governor and control of Congress, as well as her Republican opponent’s prioritization of false claims about the 2020 election.
State of play: Hobbs, a former state legislator who was elected as Arizona's top elections official in 2018, will almost certainly have to work with a Republican-controlled legislature that is highly unlikely to pass any Democratic policies.
- Among the issues she campaigned on were dramatically increasing teacher salaries, implementing a child tax credit for working families and repealing Arizona's pre-statehood ban on most abortions, which is in limbo due to ongoing litigation.
- Still, Hobbs will be able to use executive orders and appointments to advance her agenda, though most significant gubernatorial appointments are subject to Senate confirmation or limited by other checks and balances.
Hobbs also will be able to use her veto pen to block conservative legislation, in the mold of the state's last Democratic governor, Janet Napolitano.
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The big picture: Hobbs defied party odds to beat Trump-backed Lake, a former local TV news anchor who was endorsed by former President Trump and widely viewed as a rising star in the MAGA wing of the Republican Party.
- Hobbs as Arizona’s secretary of state gained national prominence following the 2020 election as a voice of opposition to Trump and his allies’ false claims it was rigged.
- She also attracted more outside spending than any Arizona Democratic gubernatorial nominee in years.
Between the lines: Though polling had consistently shown a close race, Democrats became increasingly pessimistic and frustrated in the final weeks of the election cycle as Hobbs' campaign faltered.
- She made headlines for refusing to debate Lake despite the dwindling usage of the political tradition in races up and down the ballot all over the country.
The intrigue: Lake, who has repeatedly spread false and baseless claims about election fraud throughout her campaign, would not commit to accepting the results of the election if she lost.
Liz Cheney trolls Kari Lake as she loses Arizona race to Katie Hobbs - follow live
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Kari Lake falsely claims rival Katie Dobbs has never been in lead in Arizona race
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Democratic candidate Katie Hobbs has won the Arizona governor’s race, defeating Donald Trump-backed Kari Lake, in one of the most-watched midterm contests in the country.
The race was called on Monday night, with Ms Hobbs taking 50.4 per cent of votes to Ms Lake’s 49.6 per cent.
Republican Liz Cheney was one of the first to rub salt into the wounds of MAGA Republican Ms Lake.
Ms Cheney quoted a tweet from the extremist candidate last month where she mockingly thanked her, claiming that her “anti-endorsement” would secure her a win in the gubernatorial race. Ms Cheney bided her time with her response, replying as news of Ms Lake’s loss broke: “You’re welcome.”
Ms Lake, who amplified Mr Trump’s false narrative that the 2020 presidential election was stolen, has branded the results of the election “BS” and has so far refused to concede.
Declaring victory, Ms Hobbs said: “Democracy is worth the wait. Thank you, Arizona. I am so honoured and so proud to be your next governor.”
Liz Cheney sends perfect revenge tweet as Kari Lake loses Arizona governor’s race: ‘You’re welcome’
Arizona governor candidate Kari Lake has been mocked by her Republican colleague Liz Cheney after multiple news outlets called the race for the Democrats.
Ms Lake, a pro-Trump firebrand who has repeatedly spread conspiracy theories about the 2020 US presidential election, had written to Ms Cheney last month sarcastically thanking her for running a TV advert against her, which Ms Lake claimed had actually galvanised support.
“Thank you again for the huge boost to our campaign! Enjoy your forced retirement from politics,” Ms Lake had said.
Seventeen days later, as NBC News, CNN and The Associated Press declared victory for Ms Lake’s Democratic opponent Katie Hobbs, Ms Cheney responded on Twitter: “You’re welcome, @KariLake.”
Io Dodds has more here.
Johanna Chisholm15 November 2022 14:00
Poll: Many Republicans still back Trump for 2024, but that support is waning
A new Politico-Morning Consult poll has shown that former President Donald Trump’s popularity with Republican-leaning voters might be waning in the post-midterm climate.
Among all voters surveyed in the poll, 65 per cent said the ex-president should probably or definitely not run again (of those, 53 per cent were in the definite camp).
Those numbers haven’t shifted significantly since pre-election, when the same polling group found that the twice impeached president stood at 48 per cent. But it does show that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’s star is rising, with the governor shooting up from 26 per cent to 33 per cent.
Johanna Chisholm15 November 2022 13:00
Kari Lake joins list of election deniers who received Trump’s endorsement but failed in their bid for elected office
Kari Lake, a former news anchor who was swiftly embraced by Donald Trump and MAGA enthusiasts after she began aggressively peddling election fraud conspiracy theories from the 2020 presidential election, has joined a growing list of election deniers who were similarly graced with the former president’s blessing only to be rejected at the polls
NBC News reporter Sahil Kapur aggregated the candidates who embraced Trump’s “Big Lie” heading into the November midterms and found that there were at least 10 substantial Republicans on the ballot who were rejected by the electorate in their respective state and federal races.
As Kapur points out, this is not an exhaustive list but rather a collection of the more substantial losses suffered by the MAGA Republicans who accepted the ex-president’s narrative of events during the 2020 election.
Johanna Chisholm15 November 2022 12:40
Critics of Kari Lake react to her ‘self-owning’ tweet after she claims election was stolen
Shortly after NBC News called the race in the Arizona gubernatorial race, declaring Democrat Katie Hobbs the victor over Trump-backed Kari Lake, the Republican candidate took to her preferred social media platform to begin spreading her preferred kind of conspiracies: election fraud.
“Arizonans know BS when they see it,” tweeted the former news anchor, hinting that her narrow loss to Ms Hobbs - where she secured 49.6 per cent to her opponent’s 50.4 per cent - was the byproduct of some kind of “BS” election fraud.
Unfortunately for Ms Lake, the Twittersphere took the tweet to mean an entirely different thing, with many critics using it as the punchline to several jokes about how Arizonans had roundly rejected her brand of election-denying politics.
“As it turns out, yes, yes they did,” quote tweeted former Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill.
“perfect concession: self-aware & concise,” tweeted New Yorker reporter and author Philip Gourevitch.
Johanna Chisholm15 November 2022 12:20
A stunningly accurate prediction on House and Senate control from August has gone viral after results
A prediction about the US midterms made on Twitter at the end of August has gone viral for apparently accurately guessing the outcome of the election.
User “umichvoter”, who appears to be 22-years-old with an interest in politics and elections currently studying for a medical degree, made the prediction on 31 August.
He wrote: “Based on special elections and generic ballot and president approval trends, I’d say we are probably at about a 50-49 Dem senate with GA headed to runoff and 219-216 GOP house.”
“Things could change tho,” he added.
Oliver O’Connell has more details here.
Johanna Chisholm15 November 2022 12:05
MAGA activist claims he can ‘will into existence’ a Kari Lake win
MAGA activist and “Stop the Steal” rally organiser Ali Alexander has claimed that he can “will into existence” a Kari Lake win.
Ms Lake was defeated by Democrat Katie Hobbs in the race for Arizona governor.
Before the race was called on Monday night, Mr Alexander claimed that he could “will” Ms Lake to victory.
“Even if Kari was going to lose, I would will it into existence. And I know that sounds kooky and I know that sounds crazy. But. Don’t catch me on a wild day,” he said on his podcast.
“Pete Davidson one time got on my bad side. Almost killed himself.
“So. You’re not going to believe me. It doesn’t matter. The point is, is that no one needs to believe you the first time. The point is, you just need to tell them the first time. You understand this? This is going to sound kooky for ya’ll in cosey, but you guys don’t understand the esoteric.
“What if I told you that all of us are capable of traveling? Well, not all of us, because you’re not smart enough. But what if I told you that there are a lot of people capable of time traveling? They just don’t know it.”
Despite his bizarre claims, Ms Lake was defeated just hours later.
Rachel Sharp15 November 2022 11:40
Katie Hobbs says ‘democracy is worth the wait’ as she wins race
Katie Hobbs celebrated her victory on Monday night, by saying that “democracy is worth the wait”.
The Democrat was called the winner of the gubernatorial race on Monday night, beating extreme right-wing candidate Kari Lake.
“Democracy is worth the wait. Thank you, Arizona. I am so honored and so proud to be your next Governor,” she tweeted.
Rachel Sharp15 November 2022 11:20
Kari Lake’s defeat marks another blow for Trump
Kari Lake’s defeat marks another blow for Donald Trump, as she becomes the latest candidate endorsed by him and latest extreme right-wing candidate to lose in the midterms.
The former president has shouldered much of the blame for Republicans’ disappointing performance in the midterms – with many members of the party distancing themselves from him and throwing their support behind Ron DeSantis as a 2024 hopeful.
Despite this, Mr Trump is still planning to make a “special announcement” on Tuesday night – believed to be his official announcement of a 2024 run.
Rachel Sharp15 November 2022 11:00
Katie Hobbs’ win flips state blue
Katie Hobbs’ win in Arizona has flipped the governor seat blue for the first time in 13 years.
After defeating MAGA Republican and election denier Kari Lake in the gubernatorial race, the secretary of state will now succeed Republican Governor Doug Ducey, who could not run again due to term limits.
Ms Hobbs will now become the first Democrat elected governor in Arizona since Janet Napolitano won in 2006, serving up to 2009.
The victory also puts Democrats closer to taking all three top statewide races in Arizona for the first time since 1972.
The race for attorney general is still too close to call, with Democrat Kris Mayes leading with 50.1 per cent of votes to Republican Abe Hamadeh’s 49.9 per cent.
Rachel Sharp15 November 2022 10:40
Why race was called for Katie Hobbs
The Associated Press called the Arizona governor’s race for Democrat Katie Hobbs on Monday after the latest round of vote releases gave her a lead that AP determined she would not relinquish.
The AP concluded that, even though Republican Kari Lake had been posting increasingly larger margins in vote updates from Maricopa County, she was not gaining a big enough share to overtake Hobbs, and was running out of remaining votes.
Vote counting had gone on for days since the Tuesday election, as officials continued to tally massive amounts of late-arriving ballots.
As of Monday night, there were 43,000 remaining votes to count in Arizona, according to state officials, including more than 17,000 early ballots.
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