Katie Hobbs in her campaign ad.
Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs (D) announced Wednesday she would run for governor, in a campaign ad that highlighted fallout from the state's controversial GOP-led audit of its 2020 presidential election results.
Why it matters: Hobbs, the state's top election official, gained a national profile during the 2020 election by pushing back against unfounded claims from supporters of former President Trump that the election results were fraudulent.
- Arizona has become ground zero for the "stop the steal" movement's effort to find evidence to support baseless claims that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump, AP reports.
- Current Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey, a Republican, is not eligible to run for a third term in 2022.
What they're saying: "The other side isn’t offering policies to make our lives better. They’re offering conspiracy theories that only make our lives worse," Hobbs said in her campaign announcement.
Driving the news: Last week, the Arizona House Appropriations Committee voted to strip Hobbs of the ability to defend election lawsuits — giving that duty instead to the state's Republican attorney general. The bill has not yet been approved by the full legislature.