Hobbs Loses Lead Over GOP's Kari Lake Amid Repeated Refusals to Debate

Arizona Democratic gubernatorial candidate Katie Hobbs' refusal to debate Republican Kari Lake ahead of next month's midterm elections could be influencing voters' views, a new poll from The Trafalgar Group found.

The poll found that Hobbs' Republican opponent—Kari Lake, who was endorsed by former President Donald Trump and has adopted some of his rhetoric and style—has edged ahead of Hobbs by 2.8 points, just inside of the poll's 2.9-point margin of error. Nearly 4.5 percent of voters were undecided.

Hobbs had been ahead of Lake in polls since September.

Hobbs refused to debate Lake because she didn't want a rehash of the GOP primaries, where Republican candidates argued over each other, the Associated Press reported. Hobbs' campaign said "you can't debate conspiracy theorists" and cited that as a reason for the refusal to debate Lake.

"The voters of Arizona are noticing, and national Democrats are panicking, that Katie Hobbs is putting her weakness and cowardice on full display in the final weeks by refusing to debate Kari Lake, generating awful headlines about her racism, and literally running away from the press," a Lake campaign spokesperson told Newsweek in an email.

"Arizona deserves a fighter, not a coward. Kari Lake is out-campaigning and out-hustling the ineffective, radical racist Katie Hobbs, and unless Katie Hobbs finds the courage to be held accountable for her liberal record in a debate, the final days of this campaign are just going to get worse for her."

AP reported that Lake allowed Hobbs to choose the moderator and pick all of the questions for the debate, but Hobbs still refused. Instead, Hobbs requested a town hall-style setting, where she and Lake were interviewed separately. Hobbs also refused to debate Democrat Marco Lopez before the primary, AP reported.

The candidates have sparred over Hobbs' decision not to debate Lake.

"BREAKING: Katie Hobbs has declined the debate," Lake tweeted in early September. "I was right @katiehobbs – you are a coward."

Lake also tweeted a video of herself slamming Hobbs for her decision.

"She doesn't have one single policy to stand on. Not one," Lake said in the video after saying Hobbs was terrified of Lake accusing her of being a "convicted racist."

Hobbs responded, tweeting Tuesday that Lake was attempting to distract voters by creating a spectacle.

"Today makes clear she has no intention of actually telling voters her plans to govern," Hobbs tweeted after Lake published a new ad slamming Hobbs. "Debate about debates is over. I have real plans to lead Arizona forward."

Hobbs has criticized Lake for believing conspiracy theories and for being a 2020 election denier.

If Hobbs wins, she will be the first Democratic governor Arizona has elected since Janet Napolitano won in 2002 and 2006 before resigning in 2009.

"Most of the undecideds have a negative opinion about how Biden is handling his job as president, 55.9 percent in the Senate race and 56.9 percent in Governors race," Trafalgar founder Robert Cahaly told The Daily Wire.

Lake capitalized on independents and Democrats disapproving of Biden, and she petitioned those undecided voters to join the GOP at her "Ask Me Anything" tour in September.

"If you want common-sense ideas, this party is for you," Lake told the crowd. "The Democrat party is not the same anymore. That party has changed. That party is not the same party of JFK. I think people are recognizing that, and they are coming.

"I want them to know you are welcome in the new Republican party. We are the party of ideas that work, and we want you to come on over. Independents, too. We are an inclusive party of all Americans."

Newsweek reached out to Hobbs' campaign for comment.

Update 10/19/22, 3:13 p.m. ET: This story was updated with a comment from Lake's campaign.