Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, the state’s Democratic nominee for governor, is refusing to cave to pressure to recuse herself from election duties for the midterm elections.

Her Republican opponent, Kari Lake, and even some former Arizona secretaries of state have urged Lake to step aside to avoid an appearance of there being a conflict of interest and other concerns. Election Day is Tuesday.

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“Elected secretaries of state in Arizona have overseen elections where they’re on the ballot since statehood. This has never been an issue until now,” Hobbs told CNN on Thursday. “I’m not going to recuse myself from the job that the voters elected me to do, and for which I took an oath of office, to uphold the Constitution of the United States, and the Constitution and laws of the State of Arizona. I have done that throughout my tenure, as secretary of state. And I will continue to do that, until I leave office on Jan. 2.”

Demands by Lake for recusal are a distraction, Hobbs added.

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Lake, a longtime journalist who is endorsed by former President Donald Trump, is leading Hobbs by 4 1/2 percentage points, according to the polling average presented by RealClearPolitics.

Hobbs has also refused to face off against Lake in a debate, claiming Lake is “not interested in having substantive, in-depth conversations about the issues that matter.” Lake, who has made election integrity a key focus of her campaign, has dubbed Hobbs a “debate denier” and “coward.”

Original Location: Arizona elections chief won’t recuse in governor’s race against Kari Lake

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