Arizona’s Chief Elections Officer Has Received Multiple Threats in Recent Months. She’s Not Backing Down.

Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs has voiced her criticisms of the Senate’s audit of Maricopa County’s 2020 election results.

Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs was assigned a security detail Friday after receiving threats in the wake of her comments about the controversial Republican-driven audit of Maricopa County’s 2020 election results. 

It’s only the latest round of threats Hobbs has received in recent months, but each time she has stood her ground and asserted that she refuses to be cowed by the threats.

Hobbs has spoken out in recent weeks about the Arizona Senate’s audit of the 2020 election results, calling it an effort by “fringe Republicans” attempting to relitigate the election.

The audit was commissioned by Arizona Republicans to “ensure transparency and integrity” in the election, according to the official website, but it has been plagued by concerns of mismanagement, lack of transparency, and lapses in security. 

Hobbs joined the ranks of other election experts who have called the audit reckless, concerning, and illegitimate.

On Thursday, Hobbs said in a tweet that she had received three threats, including one from a man who had called her office saying she deserved to die and wanting to know what she was wearing.

Later that day, Hobbs was followed outside her office by an Arizona realtor who writes for The Gateway Pundit, a far-right website whose founder was suspended by Twitter for repeatedly promoting falsehoods about the 2020 election.

In a video posted to Twitter, the man can be seen following Hobbs outside her office while accusing her of being partisan and attempting to shut the audit down.

Hobbs’ office requested the security detail Friday after the threats and the encounter outside her office, according to The Arizona Republic.

But Hobbs had another message in the wake of the threats.

“Let me be very clear: I will never be intimidated out of telling the truth, defending our elections, and serving the people of Arizona,” Hobbs wrote on Twitter.

‘I Swore An Oath’

Hobbs and her family also received threats of violence in November, after former President Donald Trump and his supporters repeatedly attempted to challenge the results of the 2020 election.

A video showing a group of people standing outside Hobbs’ home chanting “We are watching you” was shared by 12 News. Hobbs told 12 News that individuals on right-wing social media site Parler had posted her home address and threatened to burn her house down and kill her and her family.

Gov. Doug Ducey said at the time that he was working with the Secretary of State’s Office to ensure it had any additional Department of Public Safety resources necessary, and that he would do “whatever it takes” to protect Hobbs.

Hobbs stood her ground in November, saying her background as a social worker had prepared her for the “violence and vitriol.”

“Their continued intimidation tactics will not prevent me from performing the duties I swore an oath to do,” Hobbs wrote in a statement at the time. “Our democracy is tested constantly, it continues to prevail and it will not falter under my watch.”

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