They’ve finally counted every ballot in Arizona, and Kari Lake is still a big loser. Hooray! However, the attorney general election is headed for a recount. Currently, Democrat Kris Mayes has a slim lead of 510 votes over Republican Abe Hamadeh.
In a statement to the Arizona Republic, Mayes said, “We knew this race would be close. The polls showed us that. And we know we have a recount ahead … As we head into this recount with a 510 vote lead, we feel confident that the end result will be the same, and I am very much looking forward to being your Lawyer for the People. I want to say I’m extremely proud of the campaign we ran. We were out there proactively on issues like reproductive rights, consumer fraud and the outrageous Saudi water grab. We will now be patient as we go through this process, and ask that everyone else do the same. Let’s lead with hope and humility versus divisiveness and chaos. I believe we’ve had enough of that. Thank you, Arizona! Onward…”
Hamadeh was less sanguine. He declared, “We’re not done fighting and we are optimistic the recount will further expose the gross incompetence and mismanagement by Maricopa County officials that disenfranchised and silenced the voices of so many Arizona voters.”
Yeah, he’s repeating the same crap as Lake. Licking his wounds last night, Hamadeh petulantly tweeted, “My parents came here from Syria, they didn’t expect Arizona elections to be so similar.” This is an insulting comparison. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad won re-election in 2021 with an implausible 95 percent of the vote. The US and our allies believed the election was fraudulent and not just because minorities voted.
Republicans are ones to talk about voter disenfranchisement, considering the voter suppression bills they passed. MAGA goons also stalked drop boxes and intimidated voters.
PREVIOUSLY:
Arizona MAGA Goons Stalking Drop Boxes Looking For ‘Mules’ — Totally Legal, Not So Cool
Arizona Republican Demands Election She Won Be Overturned
If next month’s recount upholds Mayes’s lead, that would mean the entire hard-right slate of candidates for governor, Senate, secretary of state, and attorney general went down in Trump-ignited flames. The color of the wave that just swept through Arizona was decidedly blue. The one-term loser whined that Republican Gov. Doug Ducey and Attorney General Mark Brnovich didn’t do enough to help him steal the 2020 election. Come 2024, Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs and (likely) Attorney General Kris Mayes won’t even take his coup-tainted phone calls.
Hamadeh was straight-up bad news. He fully embraced Trump’s Big Lie, and in July, he retweeted Steve Bannon’s unhinged declaration that “When Kari Lake is Governor, Abe Hamadeh is AG, Mark Finchem Secretary of State … Then the actual count will happen, and the Biden Electors decertified. And Arizona will be FREE.”
Arizona remains free now that none of those Republicans will hold state office. This extends well beyond simply acknowledging election results. After the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, almost all abortions were criminalized in the state after an 1864 forced-birth law was restored. However, Mayes has vowed that as “Attorney General, I will not prosecute doctors, PAs, nurses, midwives, doulas or pharmacists for providing or women for receiving reproductive services.” Abortion rights activists believed Mayes’s election is critical to preserving abortion rights.
Never believe that your vote doesn’t count, as 510 people could ultimately make all the difference.
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