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Saturday, Nov. 19, 2022

Did the youth vote swing the Arizona governor’s race in favor of Democrat Katie Hobbs?

Austin Tannenbaum, Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting
yes

In Arizona, the youth vote provided a net of 60,000 votes toward Democratic nominee Katie Hobbs over Republican nominee Kari Lake in the state's gubernatorial race, according to CIRCLE, a non-partisan, independent research organization based at Tufts University "focused on youth civic engagement in the U.S."

As of Nov. 17, 2022, the margin between Hobbs and Lake was around 17,000 votes — less than a third of the youth vote's electoral impact.

CIRCLE found that 27% of young people (ages 18-29) turned out for the 2022 election — the second highest rate in 30 years behind the 2018 midterms. In battleground states, the turnout rate was higher at 31%, tying the rate of 2018.

Young voters in Nevada, Georgia, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania also gave Democratic candidates a winning advantage in close races, according to CIRCLE.

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The Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting is the state’s only independent, nonpartisan and collaborative nonprofit newsroom dedicated to statewide, data-driven investigative reporting. AZCIR's mission is to hold powerful people and institutions accountable by exposing injustice and systemic inequities through investigative journalism.

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