Arizona Secretary of State and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Katie Hobbs has repeatedly refused to debate her Republican opponent, the fiery Trump-endorsed former news anchor Kari Lake.
On Monday, Univision recorded a Town Hall event featuring the two candidates which will air on Saturday night. Organizers of the event told NBC News that, according to the agreed-upon rules, Hobbs and Lake were not allowed to appear on stage at the same time. Additionally, while one candidate was recording their segment, the other was supposed to remain in a holding room.
When Hobbs took the stage, she was horrified to see Lake seated in the front row, which NBC reported was “in the direct line of sight of where her opponent would sit.”
According to the report, “Lake protested, saying she was unaware of that rule and said Hobbs should come out and debate her. Hobbs didn’t. After several minutes, Lake complied, leaving behind her campaign surrogate, Mexican telenovela star Eduardo Verástegui.”
Joe Garcia, the executive director of voter outreach for the Chicanos Por La Causa Action Fund, a co-sponsor of the event, told NBC, “Kari Lake brought along a Mexican telenovela star and she brought the drama. It was like a telenovela.”
“She [Lake] rattled her opponent. She was big, brash, and very larger than life, Trump-esque,” Garcia said. “Anyone who thinks she was there to follow all the rules doesn’t know Kari Lake.”
One member of the audience told NBC this race was a clash between “an NPR Democrat and a Trump Republican.”
What does it say when a candidate seeking public office refuses to face her opponent on the debate stage? It tells voters she is terrified of her rival and may have something to hide.
Lake reacted to the incident on Twitter. She believes, rightly, that Arizonans deserve a debate.
This is really sad. The people of Arizona deserve better than this.
They deserve a debate.
I have given @katiehobbs every opportunity to prove that she’s better than me. But she can’t.
So instead of running for Governor, she just runs away.https://t.co/sgO5ectVsz
— Kari Lake (@KariLake) October 9, 2022
“If a candidate can’t even face their opponent, they have no business trying to run a state, much less a relatively large state dealing with a major crisis. Is @katiehobbs going to hide in her room every time the going gets tough as Governor of Arizona?”https://t.co/oY6nJm8fCF
— Kari Lake War Room (@KariLakeWarRoom) October 9, 2022
Arizona’s Republican Senate candidate Blake Masters, who dominated in a debate with his opponent Democrat Sen. Mark Kelly last week, called Hobbs a coward.
.@bgmasters: She’s (@KatieHobbs) a coward for not debating @KariLake…. it’s also somewhat rational for Katie Hobbs not to debate Kari Lake. Because if you think there was a spectacle last Thursday when I put @Senmarkkelly on the ropes, imagine what Kari Lake would do to Katie-” pic.twitter.com/ea4xwAVrBx
— Kari Lake (@KariLake) October 12, 2022
Hobbs’ almost obsessive determination to avoid a debate with Lake is itself becoming an issue in the campaign and might explain why she’s been losing ground in the polls. Over the summer, Hobbs ran slightly ahead of Lake. Currently, Lake has pulled slightly ahead of Hobbs. As of Thursday morning, the RealClearPolitics average of polls shows Lake up 0.7 points over her opponent. RCP projects Lake as the likely winner.
Candidate debates have been an essential part of the democratic process forever. A debate is essentially a job interview. Voters have every right to see how a potential leader reacts to hard questions and how they conduct themselves under pressure.
No intelligent business owner would make an important hiring decision without interviewing a candidate first. Likewise, no voter should cast their ballot until they’ve completed their due diligence.
If Hobbs refuses to come in for the interview, she shouldn’t be hired. Period.
A previous version of this article appeared in The Western Journal.
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Kari Lake has Hobbs on the run. It will be amazing if she doesn’t beat Hobbs by 10 points or better.
I don’t know why Lake doesn’t do somewhat of a faux debate where she simply debates Hobbs positions-it would have the same impact as a real debate. Candidates across the country should be doing that routinely when their opponent refuses to debate-cause it is the positions and policy that matter….
I hope Kari saw what you just wrote. Excellent idea!
I hope when the “ARIZONA DUST” settles that Kari Lake will be the Governor of the state of ARIZONA. I believe she was the Arizona peoples truly elected candidate. I also hope the Republican candidate for Attorney General is also sworn in to office. Maybe then a process will take place for the benefit of real honest elections in ARIZONA and hopefully other states will do the same.