After political watchers and analysts agree that Kari Lake won the Republican nomination for Arizona governor Thursday night, the political newcomer’s margin of victory continues to grow while more votes are counted.
According to reports from Friday, 98 percent of the primary votes have been counted, and Lake now leads by a margin of 47.7 percent to opponent Karrin Taylor Robson’s 43.4 percent.
The race was called Thursday night with Lake leading by a margin of 46.8 percent to 44 percent.
The percentages now align more closely with several major polls that predicted Lake garnering 47 percent of the vote. Those polls, though, predicted that Robson would only receive 38.5 percent of the vote, meaning that Robson outperformed expectations.
With two percent of the votes yet to be counted, Lake’s margin of victory could end up being even larger than the current 4.3 percent margin.
Lake simultaneously blasted the slow vote count while celebrating her victory.
“Though the results took longer than they should have, Arizonans who have been forgotten by the establishment just delivered a political earthquake,” Lake said in statement after the race was called in her favor. “My opponent Katie Hobbs had one job in government, and that was to ensure an efficiently-processed election. She failed spectacularly, and yet just like every other failed establishment politician, she now wants a promotion. Arizona just sent a clear message: our state is done with failed politicians like Katie Hobbs.”
For its part, the campaign was confident that Lake would win, despite the two-day waiting period for the race to be called.
“We knew early in the night [Tuesday], despite a 9.8% deficit, that Kari Lake would be the Republican nominee,” Lake Chief Strategist Bill Grant told The Arizona Sun Times Wednesday morning. “It’s time to unite Arizona and bring the Republican Party together to defeat Katie Hobbs in November.”
Lake will square off against Democrat Secretary of State Katie Hobbs in the November general election.
Lake has called to unite the Republican Party against Hobbs.
“It’s morning again in Arizona,” Grant told The Sun Times Thursday. “Kari is totally focused on uniting this party and defeating Katie Hobbs.”
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Pete D’Abrosca is a reporter at The Arizona Sun Times and The Star News Network. Email tips to [email protected].
