Arizona gubernatorial candidate Katie Hobbs' office burglarized

(Image credit: Mario Tama / Staff/ Getty Images)

published 27 October 2022

Law enforcement in Arizona is investigating a break-in at the campaign offices of Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, the Democratic gubernatorial candidate for Arizona, CNN reports. Hobbs is in the final weeks of her midterm campaign in a tight race against Republican Kari Lake.

Phoenix police said they "learned that items were taken from the property sometime during the night" after responding to a call Tuesday afternoon about a burglar. A suspect has not been identified, and investigators are combing CCTV footage for evidence, per The New York Times.

Hobbs' campaign manager Nicole DeMont responded to the news in a statement, saying that Hobbs and her staff "have faced hundreds of death threats and threats of violence over the course of this campaign." She then directly addressed Hobb's opponent:

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"Let's be clear: for nearly two years Kari Lake and her allies have been spreading dangerous misinformation and inciting threats against anyone they see fit," DeMont continued. "The threats against Arizonans attempting to exercise their constitutional rights and their attacks on elected officials are the direct result of a concerted campaign of lies and intimidation."

Lake responded to the allegations, calling them "absolutely absurd," then seemingly implied that Hobbs was making the story up. She was "saddened that Hobbs and her camp would try to pin this on us," and dismissed the remarks as defamatory, per CNN.

"She's trying to deflect from her own abysmal campaign and the fact that, you know, nobody even knows where her campaign office is," Lake said.

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Theara Coleman has worked as a staff writer at The Week since September 2022. She frequently writes about technology, education, literature and general news. She was previously a contributing writer and assistant editor at Honeysuckle Magazine, where she covered racial politics and cannabis industry news.