PHOENIX — Monday night could decide who Arizona's next governor will be.
Maricopa County Board Chairman Bill Gates said on "Sunday Square Off" Sunday morning that all of the county's remaining 190,000 ballots would be counted by the end of this week. The County Board oversees elections.
But it's the Maricopa ballot count being reported in the 6 p.m. hour on Monday that will tell us whether Republican Kari Lake can catch up to her Democratic opponent Katie Hobbs.
Before Sunday's 98,000 ballot drop from Maricopa County, Hobbs had a 1.6-percentage point lead over Lake, 50.8 percent to 49.2 percent. In terms of votes, Hobbs was up by 36,186.
But with Lake receiving 55% of the votes in Maricopa County Sunday night, Hobbs' statewide lead shrunk to about 26,000 votes.
Party registration data indicates that about 40 percent of the votes were cast by Republicans.
But to date, the statewide Trump-endorsed ticket, led by Lake, has underperformed its Democratic opponents in Maricopa County.
In an unusual turnabout, the top Republican vote-getter in Maricopa County is farther down the ballot: County Attorney Rachel Mitchell leads Lake by 24,000 votes.
This is Mitchell's first run for elected office. Lake was on TV in the Phoenix market for 25 years.
Maricopa County voters cast 6 in every 10 ballots in Arizona elections.
Winning statewide office without winning Maricopa is exceedingly rare.
Sunday Square Off
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