HUMILIATED: Republicans Walk Out of Katie Hobbs’ State Address

A group of Republicans walked out of Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs’ speech during her first State of the State address.

“Several of the GOP lawmakers turned their backs on the new governor and walked out as she outlined her priorities, according to a report. Democratic lawmakers applauded Hobbs when she preached that she intended to increase public education funding and address Arizona’s water crisis. However, when she began calling for abortion access, members of the Arizona Freedom Caucus publicly left the chamber, the report noted,” the Washington Examiner reported.

“As was foreseeable, Katie Hobbs utilized the time-honored State of the State Address to once again promote her radical, woke policy initiatives, rather than address the profoundly serious concerns that Arizonans have regarding the political and fiscal realities of daily life,” a statement from the Arizona Freedom Caucus said.

“On the heels of an election riddled with violations of Arizona law that once again left Arizonans disenfranchised and lacking confidence in our state’s local governments. Katie Hobbs has now affirmed what many reasonably feared: this governor has no intention of using her office to correct existing corruption and restore the faith of Arizonans in their state and local governments,” the statement continued.

WATCH:

ARIZONA— Republicans walk out as @GovernorHobbs reiterates her support for access to abortion in her first State of the State pic.twitter.com/2Pjlmial0S

— Yvonne Wingett Sanchez (@yvonnewingett) January 9, 2023

Rep. Rachel Jones with the Arizona Freedom Caucus issued a statement as well.

“It took 5 seconds for Katie Hobbs to begin legislating from the 9th floor, so I will not listen to her rhetoric for even 5 seconds. There are too many questions left unanswered, litigation still moving through the courts, and many concerns about the border, not pronouns,” she tweeted following the address. “This is why I immediately left the House Floor after the start of the State of the State. I promised to be the voice of the people, and I will never break that promise.”

Hobbs reacted to the walkout.

“I’m still optimistic that we can find common ground on a lot of the issues that we talked about,” she said. “It’s unfortunate that some members chose an immature stunt instead. We have really tough issues in front of us, and we need to work together to solve them.”

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