Tone down political rhetoric, Gov. Hobbs says, but won't discuss her use of harsh terms

PHOENIX — Gov. Katie Hobbs said Monday that people have to “stop inflaming this kind of rhetoric” to avoid future situations that lead to politicians and public officials being threatened and attacked.

But the governor, who has used the term “dangerous” and “extremists” with political foes, refused to answer questions about whether she is part of the problem.

The issue arose after Hobbs, speaking at an economic development announcement, called the attempted assassination of former President Trump “a horrific act.”

“Political violence has no place in this country,” Hobbs said in her prepared remarks. “And voicing our political opinions peacefully is absolutely paramount to preserve the sanctity of our democracy.”

The governor, speaking with reporters later, acknowledged that she was the subject of a death threat while she was secretary of state — Arizona’s chief chief elections officer — in 2022, and running at the same time for governor.

That led to questions of how, in the wake of what happened Saturday, does the nation get past that.

“It is terrible,” Hobbs said. “We have to come together and we have to stop … using this kind of rhetoric.”

And she said people “have to not look to violence to settle their political disagreements.”

But Hobbs herself used what could be considered inflammatory language during her gubernatorial campaign against Republican Kari Lake — and even after being elected.

In August of 2022, for example, Hobbs’ campaign put out a news release saying that Lake “is once again proving that she is too dangerous for Arizona.” That related to Lake’s support for defunding the FBI following the raid on Mar-A-Largo.

Hobbs, in an interview with MSNBC during the campaign, called Lake “dangerous and too extreme,” with a separate statement from her calling Lake “extreme and out of touch.”

A campaign ad paid for by her campaign less than a month before the election called attention to statements Lake made about secession, saying “Lake is seriously dangerous.”

And in an op-ed to Fox News just days before the election, Hobbs said “the new GOP is led by extremists, radical stone throwers like Kari Lake who disparage great Americans like John McCain.”

But the rhetoric didn’t cool after Hobbs was elected.

Christian Slater, her press aide, has called Sen. Jake Hoffman an “extremist” last year after the Queen Creek Republican refused to proceed with confirmation hearings on some of the nominees to head state agencies.

And Hobbs herself, in a prepared statement earlier this year, blasted “the extremist Republican majority” in the House after they blocked a vote on a bid to repeal an 1864 law that outlawed abortion except to save the life of the mother.”

It was Hobbs who first raised the issue Monday with her prepared statement condemning the shooting.

“Too often, our communities are being torn apart by politics,” the governor said. “We need to come together and remember that we are neighbors, friends and American citizens, all united by a love for our country.”

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But Hobbs, in her comments later to reporters, declined to say how much she believes the rhetoric of politics inflames and leads to these kinds of situations.

“I’m not going to get into that,” the governor responded.

“I’m just going to say that it is horrific what happened,” she continued. “I am glad the former president is OK.”

And Hobbs said she is “deeply saddened” about others who were killed and injured.

“It has to stop,” Hobbs said. “This political balance has no place in our discourse.”

And what of her own history of using terms like “dangerous’’ and “extremist” when referring to political foes?

“I’m not going to get into that,” she said. “I’m not talking about the politics right now.”

But later on, the governor took a swat at Hoffman over that issue of getting his Director Nominations Committee to vote on — or even consider — several of her picks to head state agencies.

Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Scott Blaney ruled last month that the governor had broken the law by withdrawing the names of her unconfirmed nominees from consideration and then using a maneuver to install them as “executive deputy directors” not subject to Senate oversight.

Hobbs asked the state Court of Appeals to intercede. But the judges there on Friday rejected her plea.

And on Monday, Judge Blaney confirmed he will hear arguments next month on the bid by Senate President Warren Petersen to force the governor to submit the names for consideration.

The judge, however, said he hopes it doesn’t come to that.

“It remains the court’s hope that these two coequal branches of government will negotiate a resolution to this dispute prior to the oral argument,” Blaney wrote in his order.

Hobbs said Monday she’s willing to work with anyone in the Senate “who takes seriously their job to advise and consent on the nominations.” But she said it has to be someone who will “not continue the chaos created by Jake Hoffman and his committee.”

Hobbs then sidestepped why, after having called Hoffman an “extremist” in the past, she was not using that word now, instead providing a different description.

“He’s an indicted fake elector,” she said, referring to the fact that he is one of 11 Republicans indicted by the state grand jury on charges of conspiracy and forgery in connection with submitting their names in 2020 as the true electors for Arizona on a claim that Trump had won the race here despite the fact he had been outpolled by Biden by 10,457 votes.

Other attorneys and allies of the former president also were indicted in what Attorney General Kris Mayes said was part of a scheme to get then-Vice President Mike Pence, presiding over the electoral vote count, to refuse to accept the official results here and in other states. Pence refused.