PHOENIX — After narrowly winning the Arizona 2022 General Election, Democrat Katie Hobbs has announced her Inaugural Committee members, as well as the public inauguration date.
Adrian Fontes, Kris Mayes, Kimberly Yee, and Tom Horne are expected to be inaugurated alongside Hobbs on Jan. 5.
"I am excited to announce this slate of Arizona leaders who will help us execute the upcoming inaugural ceremony,” Hobbs said. “I am honored and humbled to have the opportunity to be a leader for all Arizonans, and I’m eager to get to work delivering solutions come January.”
However, there could be some complicating factors in the upcoming inauguration. Republican-led Cochise County recently refused to certify the results of the 2022 election despite having no evidence of anything being wrong with its count.
Hobbs has since filed a suit against the county asking the Cochise County Superior Court to order officials to certify by Thursday.
Hobbs, as secretary of state, is required to canvass all elections offices by the fourth Monday following the election. If the county's votes aren't certified by that time, it could mean having to exclude them from the canvassing.
If that happens, it would mean losing large numbers of Republican votes, and potentially flipping two offices — a U.S. House seat and state schools chief — from a Republican to a Democrat.
Although it's unlikely that such a situation would affect the governor's race, it remains to be seen if these issues will impact the inauguration.
The victories of Mayes and Horne are also expected to be subjected to an automatic ballot recount.
You can find a full list of Inaugural Committee members below:
- Moe Asnani
- Reginald Ballantyne III
- Mario E Diaz & Veronica De La O
- Toni Denis & Andy Denis
- Fred & Jennifer DuVal
- Neil Giuliano
- John & Kathleen Graham
- Balbir Grewal
- Pam Grissom
- Daryl Kling & Lewis Guthrie
- Nestor & Susan Guzman
- Sharon & Oliver Harper
- Kim Khoury
- Gizette Knight
- Simon & Elizabeth Kottoor
- Donalyn Milkes
- Francis & Dionne Najafi
- Ron Ober & Gail Gordon
- William Perry
- Victor Smith
- Benee Hilton-Spiegel & Dr. Jay Spiegel
- David Tedesco
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