On Tuesday night, amid voting machine breakdowns and other irregularities, Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake trailed Democratic rival Katie Hobbs by 100,000 votes. But Wednesday morning the margin had narrowed to 10,000, with only 62% of expected votes counted.
And by Wednesday afternoon, Hobbs’ lead was narrowed to about 4,000 votes with 67% reporting, 50.1 to Lake’s 49.9, with 72% of votes reported.
The popular Trump-backed candidate – who had a substantial lead in opinion polling – condemned the state government’s handling of the election in an address to supporters late Tuesday night but said she expects to win after all the votes are counted. Lake said that in the latest vote drops, she was winning more than 70% of the vote.
The Arizona elections are under the leadership of Lake’s opponent, Hobbs, the secretary of state.
Lake called the voting machine problems in Maricopa County “another stark reminder that we have incompetent people running the show in Arizona,” promising her “first line of action is to restore honesty to Arizona elections.”
See Lake’s remarks to supporters:
“We will take the victory when it comes. And we will turn this state around!”
Watch @KariLake‘s full speech at the election night party! pic.twitter.com/cDgNDLcIbZ
— Kari Lake (@KariLake) November 9, 2022
‘Voting with their feet’
Meanwhile, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis won what he described as a “historic landslide victory” over Democratic challenger Charlie Crist, leading by nearly 20 points with 97% of the vote counted.
DeSantis said in his victory speech that people have been “voting with their feet,” moving to Florida from states with failed leadership such as New York.
“People have come here because our policies work,” he said, declaring Florida is “where woke goes to die.”
DeSantis said that over the past four years “we’ve seen major challenges for the people of our state.”
“We saw freedom and our very way of life, and many other jurisdictions in this country, wither on the vine. Florida held the line,” he said. “We chose facts over fear. We chose education over indoctrination. We chose law and order over rioting and disorder.
The governor – who in 2018 narrowly defeated far-left Democratic Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum by less than 80,000 votes, with more than 8 million ballots cast – said Florida “was a refuge of sanity when the world went mad.”
“We stood as the citadel of freedom for the people in this country and indeed across the world.”
‘Setting Democrat money on fire’
In Georgia, Republican Brian Kemp defeated Democrat Stacey Abrams, who lost to Kemp four years ago and famously refused to concede.
In her concession speech Tuesday, Abrams quoted 2 Corinthians 4:8-9, comparing her election loss to the sufferings of the apostle Paul and the early church from persecution.
See Abrams’ remarks:
In Texas, Republican Greg Abbott beat Democrat Beto O’Rourke.
It was the third major loss for O’Rourke in nearly six years. In 2018 he lost a challenge to Republican Sen. Ted Cruz’s U.S. Senate seat. In 2019, he unsuccessfully ran for the Democratic Party nomination for president.
Atlantic staff writer Jacob Stern called O’Rourke and Abrams “superstar losers” for being “among the country’s best-known political figures” who “have become so well known not by winning big elections but by losing them.”
“They’re amazing at setting Democrat money on fire,” he wrote.
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In New York, where polls indicated Republican Lee Zeldin had a chance to win, Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul is leading by about 8 points, with 74% of the vote reported. Zeldin has not conceded, however, telling supporters at midnight that the margin is narrowing and 1.4 million Election Day votes have yet to be counted.
In another closely watched race, Republican Tudor Dixon also told reporters after midnight that she will not concede, even though the race was called by Fox News and other media outlets in favor of Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. The official count has Whitmer ahead 51.5 to 46.9, with 49% of the vote reported.
“This race is not over yet, and Fox’s call was premature,” she said. “We expect counting to continue into tomorrow in our major counties. This race has a long way to go.”
In Oregon, where polls showed Christine Drazan has a chance to become the state’s first Republican governor in 40 years, Democrat Tina Kotek leads by 2 points, 46.2 to 44.2, with 78% of the vote counted.
In Pennsylvania, Trump-backed Republican Doug Mastriano lost to Democrat Josh Shapiro by more than 11 points, 54.6 to 43.6, with 84% of the vote reported.
Governor’s offices in 36 of 50 states were on the ballot.
In Alaska, incumbent Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy had a substantial lead with 52% of the vote and 75% counted.
In Kansas, Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly had a 1.5% lead over Republican challenger Derek Schmidt with 99% of the estimated vote counted Wednesday.
Former Trump press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the daughter of former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, defeated Democratic nominee Chris Jones.
In Maryland, Democratic nominee Wes Moore won back the governor’s office after two terms of Republican Gov. Larry Hogan. Moore becomes Maryland’s first black governor.
Democrats winning reelection are Gavin Newsom in California, Tim Walz in Minnesota, J.B. Pritzker in Illinois, Jared Polis in Colorado and Dan McKee in Rhode Island.
Republican governors who have won reelection are Brad Little in Idaho, Kristi Noem in South Dakota, Phil Scott in Vermont, Mark Gordon on Wyoming, Kim Reynolds in Iowa, Harry McMaster in South Carolina, Kevin Stitt in Oklahoma, Chris Sununu in New Hampshire, Kay Ivey in Alabama, Bill Lee in Tennessee and Mike DeWine in Ohio.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Leftwing billionaire George Soros bankrolls everything evil – most recently the 75 pro-criminal “Soros district attorneys” who have transformed America’s most dynamic cities into degraded, crime-infested hellscapes of skyrocketing violent crime. Soros also funds drug legalization, euthanasia, open borders, globalism, Black Lives Matter, “defunding the police,” devaluing America’s currency and destroying her sovereignty. But why?
Whistleblower magazine reveals and explores the stunning truth: Soros, an atheist, literally says he’s “some kind of god,” obsessed with re-creating the world in his image. Here are a few actual quotes from Soros: “If truth be known, I carried some rather potent messianic fantasies with me from childhood…” “It is a sort of disease when you consider yourself some kind of god, the creator of everything, but I feel comfortable about it now since I began to live it out.” “You know, in my personal capacity I’m not actually a selfless philanthropic person. I’ve very much self-centered.” “I am kind of a nut who wants to have an impact.” “Next to my fantasies about being God, I also have very strong fantasies of being mad. … I have a lot of madness in my family. So far I have escaped it.”
Except he hasn’t “escaped it.” Not only is Soros totally mad, but he’s imposing his insanity on America. See Soros and the leftwing world he has created and funded as never before in “THE BILLIONAIRE WHO THINKS HE’S ‘GOD’: Why George Soros is obsessed with destroying America.”
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