Arizona Democrats are starting to panic about their weak candidate for governor Katie Hobbs. Already haunted by her $2.75 million racial discrimination scandal, Hobbs is taking new criticism from her own party in an Atlantic article out today.
Highlights from the article:
- “… cable-news appearances might not be enough to get her across the finish line, though, especially in a year when Republicans nationwide are favored to win back seats up and down the ballot. It’s not clear whether election integrity is a priority for Arizona voters, and some Democrats in Hobbs’s state worry that she is emphasizing the issue to her detriment.”
- “I’ve interviewed many politicians who speak like Hobbs, preferring generalities to specifics. Plenty of talented legislators aren’t especially good at selling themselves or their ideas. Talking with Hobbs reminded me of interviewing the Iowa Democrat Fred Hubbell [...] he was awkward and stiff, he didn’t have a particularly bold agenda, and he ended up losing to Reynolds in a year when Iowa Democrats otherwise made big gains. The past few years have demonstrated that voters often don’t respond well to candidates who lack some combination of star power and a robust policy agenda. The more that a race is tilted against a particular candidate, the stronger that candidate has to be. Hobbs, who’s running as a Democrat in a still-pretty-red state, has a difficult mission.”
- “Some people in Hobbs’s own party are worried about how she’d perform in a race […] ‘I couldn’t articulate what her vision for the state is beyond her MSNBC appearances to talk about election integrity. There’s not a lot else that’s there.’”
- “Hobbs’ focus on election administration is a gamble: Nationally, only 1 percent of voters ranked elections as their top priority in Gallup’s most recent survey of Americans’ biggest concerns.”
- “Hobbs’s intraparty critics wish she would be more assertive about the issues that are top of mind for Arizonans, including jobs and school funding. ‘Of the three Democrats running, on some of these issues, [Hobbs] is the least prepared,’ said a second state Democratic strategist.”
- “Hobbs’s involvement in the 2015 firing of a Black state Senate staffer named Talonya Adams could also prove to be a vulnerability.”
- “Despite the Adams affair and her critics’ doubts, though, Hobbs remains the likely Democratic nominee.”
The calls are coming from inside the house. Democrats know Hobbs can’t win.
“Arizona Democrats are on track to nominate weak candidate Katie Hobbs despite their own misgivings about her capability to win. Hobbs will face a strong, well-funded Republican defending Arizona’s Republican governorship in a red wave election — and Katie Hobbs will fail.” – RNC Spokesperson Ben Petersen
