Grand Canyon Times

Democrat gubernatorial candidate Katie Hobbs is losing support statewide in the wake of a video showing her reluctance to have an open forum on her campaign’s stances.

Hobbs is now lagging in polls behind GOP contender Kari Lake after repeatedly refusing to debate her opponent.

In a video recorded by Project Veritas Hobbs spoke frankly about her unwillingness to discuss her candidacy outside of a close circle of supporters in the media.

“I was like, ‘Uh, I work for a campaign.’ I don’t know why I said that — I just didn’t want to have this conversation. And he’s like, ‘Oh, Kari Lake?’ And I was like, ‘Fuck no!’ I don’t want to talk to you. I don’t want to talk politics to anyone who I don’t know,” Hobbs said.

Hobbs’ campaign manager Nicole DeMont, noted her the campaign would not be engaging in open debates.

“When Clean Elections was like, ‘Here’s the debate format,’ it was exactly the same as the primary. It was like, we’re not gonna put her [Hobbs] in that, like she’s not gonna be a part of something like that,” DeMont said.

“Like, if you wanna make a format that actually allows for a substantive policy debate, where you can compare positions, sure we’ll do that…So, they want to see Kari [Lake] create this spectacle. We’re not participating in that…We’re doing a bunch of forums where we can actually hear both sides.”

Newsweek reported Hobbs is trailing lake by 2.8 percent, which is right around the margin of error, with 4.5 percent of voters undecided. The Trafalgar Group conducted the polling.

Hobbs frantically fled a reporter from Project Veritas Action who ambushed her at a fast-food restaurant to confirm the behind the scene footage.

“Hey Secretary Hobbs,” reporter R.C. Maxwell from Project Veritas says in the video as he sits down at her table.

“Oh my god,” Hobbs says.

“R.C. Maxwell from Project Veritas Action. I want to ask you a brief question about the statements that you made,” Maxwell says as Hobbs gathers her food in a paper sack.

“You have a great day,” Hobbs says as she turns to grab her drink, spilling it on the table before fleeing the scene.  

Following the very public drama, Hobbs is now only leading in one poll.

As Secretary of State, Hobbs oversaw the 20202 elections which her opponent and many others have complained of irregularities and outright election fraud, particularly in Maricopa County.

An interim Attorney General’s report earlier this year revealed several problems with Maricopa County’s election system.

“The attorney general's findings of failure, fraud and potential misconduct during the 2020 election in Maricopa County are not surprising given the lack of compliance and cooperation Maricopa County election officials displayed from the start,” Senate President Karen Fann (R-Prescott) said in a statement in response to the report.

Despite the return showing her office’s flawed approach to overseeing elections, Hobbs has been a strong contender in the fall race.

Given she is a candidate for the state’s top job and is overseeing the election many have questioned whether she has a conflict of interest.

Hobbs has shown herself to have extreme biases against the Trump wing of the GOP.

She is a noted supporter of Black Lives Matter.

As a candidate in 2018, Hobbs was declared the loser on election night only to see 600,000 additional ballots were counted after election night to give her the majority.

At the time the ballots delivered after polls closed triggered Fann to request an independent investigation.