Democrat Katie Hobbs was elected as Arizona governor on Monday, The Associated Press reported.
Hobbs defeats former television news anchor Kari Lake, who was endorsed by former President Donald Trump and refused to say she would accept the results of the race.
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 Lake would be “an agent of chaos”.
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, noted AP.
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.
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.
Last week, an unknown white powdery substance was mailed to Lake’s campaign headquarters.
Lake commented on the incident during a campaign event in Queen Creek, Arizona on Sunday night, confirming that her staffers were exposed to the white substance. She said that the unknown powder was transferred to a lab for testing.