Democratic Secretary of State Katie Hobbs has defeated Republican Kari Lake in Arizona's race for governor, NBC News projected Monday.Lake, a MAGA firebrand and former local newscaster who closely linked her campaign to former President Donald Trump and his false claims of a rigged election in Arizona, ultimately fell short after polling in the final weeks of the campaign suggested she was grabbing the lead from Hobbs, who as secretary of state in 2020 vocally defended the state's election system and the accuracy of the count.Lake’s television charisma boosted her in the race but did not appear to make up for voter concerns about her positions on the 2020 election and abortion rights and how closely she aligned herself with the former president, who saw independent voters in the state abandon the Republican Party during his presidency, allowing Joe Biden to flip the once-ruby-red state.Arizona Democrats, who boosted Lake during her primary, had hoped that her refusal to moderate her stances, which include declaring an invasion at the southern border and vowing to enforce new abortion bans after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June, would help Hobbs court independent voters.At a Trump rally in the state last month, Lake made it clear she was still fully aligned with the former president: “I have some of these know-nothing consultants who say, ‘You know, you really need to back away from President Trump right now.’ And I say to them, ‘Put down Hunter’s [Biden] crack pipe right now.’” Days earlier, Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., urged Arizonans at a forum at Arizona State University not to vote for Lake because of her refusal to accept the election results should she lose, saying that if she lived in Arizona, she would back Hobbs."