Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey beamed as an excavator’s heavy claw smashed through the windows of an old state office building and began tearing off the façade.
Ducey offered a tepid endorsement of the entire Republican slate but did not campaign with Lake, who lost narrowly to Hobbs and continues to claim the election was marred by intentional misconduct. She frequently attacked Ducey on her way to winning the GOP nomination.The governor also feuded openly with Kelli Ward, the state GOP chair. But despite the dominance of Lake and Ward in the current state GOP, he plays down their significance.
Ducey walked a tightrope during Trump's presidency, initially forging a strong alliance with him and never issuing public criticism, even when his tweets or border policies threatened to be problematic for Arizona.— signified by a “Hail to the Chief” ring tone — as the governor signed the paperwork certifying Democrat Joe Biden’s narrow presidential victory in Arizona. Trump more recently called Ducey “one of the worst governors in America.
Democrats also fault Ducey for being slow to restore money for schools as the state rebounded from the Great Recession. Meager funding and stagnant wages led to a teacher walkout in 2018, culminating in a 20% raise for teachers that was brokered by Ducey. He took heat from the left for rapidly lifting his COVID-19 restrictions, which was followed by an immediate surge of deaths in the summer of 2020.
He signed a first-in-the-nation universal school voucher law, which lawmakers approved just two years after voters decisively rejected a less ambitious measure.