Kris Mayes will be Arizona's next Attorney General, after receiving only 280 votes more than her Republican competitor, Abe Hamadeh. Out of more than 2.5 million votes cast.
Hamadeh is not conceding. Instead, he and his attorney - Tim LaSota - are struggling to find a pathway towards finding more votes.
When Hamadeh lost his Election Contest trial on Friday, LaSota told Judge Lee Jantzen not to worry about rushing to sign a final order which would allow Hamadeh to appeal. Judge Jantzen understood and appreciated his - and, his staff's - ability to enjoy a long holiday weekend.
However, the lack of a final order started to complicate Hamadeh's and LaSota's efforts to prepare for today's announcement of the final results of the automatic recount. Early Wednesday, Judge Jantzen filed his unsigned Minute Entry with his ruling (below). LaSota tried to get opposing counsel to stipulate to an Order for the judge to sign dismissing the Contest; Mayes' attorneys objected. LaSota filed a late afternoon Motion for an Order (below).
LaSota's Motion came about the same time that word leaked out that Hamadeh might be picking up some votes from a rural county in the recount, but not enough to overtake Mayes' 511 vote lead.
And, first thing this morning, LaSota filed a Motion to try to stop (or, "Stay") the announcement of the recount results. The reason? He wants to appeal the lost Election Contest.
This was also loaded with irony, because Hamadeh has been blasting outgoing Secretary of State/incoming Governor Katie Hobbs for improperly sitting on the recount results from each of the 15 counties. From the Motion (published in its entirety, below):
"The Secretary of State has pushed for certification of this matter despite the extraordinarily close nature of this race and the significant questions, which will only be amplified if media reports of a large swing in votes towards Mr. Hamadeh are true. If media reports suggesting a significant swing to Mr. Hamadeh are unfounded, this Motion, along with the Motion to Intervene, will be withdrawn."
Judge Tim Thomason denied the Motion to stop the recount results from being announced, and promptly opened the envelope. It did show a net gain for Hamadeh, mainly from more votes counted in (semi-rural, semi-suburban) Pinal County.
Hamadeh and LaSota will likely try to use the even-closer margin to support their Election Contest appeal. But, they had not planned to appeal it until today, and are scrambling to get Judge Jantzen to sign an appealable order or to file an appeal without it. (We have reached out to the courts for updates.)
And, given that they presented *very* limited testimony and evidence last Friday in the evidentiary hearing, on only one of their Counts, the issues for them to appeal on are quite limited.
While LaSota continues to try to walk the legal tightrope, Hamadeh is continuing to spread misinformation on his social media platforms. This afternoon, he accused Hobbs - and, her attorneys - of "deceiv(ing) the courts". (That is a very serious charge for an attorney - let alone one seeking to be Attorney General - to make against another attorney.)
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