Arizona secretary of state to Trump before rally: ‘Take your loss and accept it and move on’

Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs (D) said that her message to former President Trump before his visit on Saturday is to “take your loss and accept it and move on,” referring to the ongoing partisan audit of the 2020 election results.

Trump is heading to Phoenix on Saturday for a “Rally to Save Our Elections!” event hosted by the conservative group Turning Point Action. He is likely to touch on his baseless claims that widespread voter fraud occurred during last year’s election. 

“How dangerous is it for Donald Trump to be coming to your state tomorrow, do you think?” CNN’s Jim Acosta asked Hobbs on “The Situation Room” on Friday.

“Well, it is dangerous. I’m glad you pointed that out. But the bottom line is it doesn’t matter what he says or does. Nothing is going to change the outcome of the 2020 election. But it also doesn’t change how dangerous this is,” said Hobbs, who is running in Arizona’s 2022 gubernatorial race.

“The bottom line is that Arizonians are tired of being led by conspiracy theorists. They don’t support this fake audit, and they’re ready for leaders who are going to put those partisan games aside and deal with real issues,” Hobbs continued.

Heeding Trump’s call to reexamine the election results of 2020, Republicans from Arizona’s state Senate launched an audit in December focused in Maricopa County, which President Biden won by more than 2 percentage points in November, in an attempt to undermine the election results. 

Biden won the state by more than 10,000 votes, the first time that a Democratic presidential candidate had won Arizona since 1996. 

“So what is your message to Donald Trump ahead of this rally? Don’t come?” Acosta asked later.

“Well, I mean, like most grown-ups, take your loss and accept it and move on. … Nothing that’s going on here is going to change the outcome, and, really, this is nothing more than being a sore loser,” Hobbs said.