It was only a matter of time before Democrats counted enough votes for Katie Hobbs to defeat Kari Lake in the nationally significant Arizona gubernatorial race. It somehow seems like a big upset and inevitable all at the same time.

Technically, the race isn’t final yet, despite media calls. It could even go to a recount. All the same, it seems to be all over but the crying.

Lake was an electric candidate, a charismatic firebrand who knew how to talk back to the media and appeal to voters. She was a rising star. Hobbs was like your next-door neighbor with all the cats, the one you rarely see and who doesn’t talk much when you do. She seems awkward in front of the camera and famously refused to dignify Lake with a debate.

So, how could this happen?

“Arizonans know BS when they see it,” Lake said last night, implying that she doesn’t trust the results, which would be consistent with her theme of calling attention to an untrustworthy election system. That distrust was certainly on display with the mess of Maricopa County. It’s also worth noting that Hobbs is currently the secretary of state in charge of state elections.

Naturally, Hobbs took the opposite tack. “Democracy is worth the wait. Thank you, Arizona,” she declared. “I am so honored and so proud to be your next Governor.” She’ll be the first Democrat in the office since 2006.

Though our audience certainly understands the truth about election integrity and the state of the “democracy” Democrats and their media propagandists are always caterwauling about, the unfortunate truth is that the electorate is often still swayed by the media. Lake became in many ways the face of the “election deniers,” the media’s favorite and disingenuous pejorative label for anyone who even thought about questioning whether Basement Joe Biden got all 81 million of those votes in 2020 on the up-and-up. Lake literally embraced Donald Trump, after all, so, to the deranged media hotheads, she might as well be Satan incarnate.

In fact, Democrats even boosted Lake’s candidacy in the primary, viewing her as easier to beat than other Republicans. That same scenario played out in numerous races across the country, and it paid real dividends for Democrats.

Conservatives have to face some tough truths after the midterm election results. Yes, Lake was eliciting many cheers from the Right by saying important things. Yes, Lake was causing lefties to fret that she was winning thanks to her good looks. Plenty of other Republican candidates represented grassroots anger over Democrat election shenanigans and establishment GOP swamp-dwellers.

But an awful lot of voters in 2020 and again in 2022 chose what they perceived to be “normal” and “stable” over someone who essentially promised to burn it all down. Lake didn’t do herself any favors with one particular moment on the campaign trail that exemplifies our point. “We don’t have any McCain Republicans in here, do we?” Lake asked a crowd in August. “Get the hell out!”

Now, we’re hardly fans of John McCain around here in our humble shop, but correct us if we’re wrong: Lake was trying to win an election. Candidates don’t win by telling a good number of the people in their own party to “get the hell out.”

That contemptuous infighting is, in fact, a big problem for Republicans writ large.

It’s an especially big problem when Democrats and the Leftmedia are so intently coalescing around a message we find utterly ridiculous … but that seems to have convinced a lot of voters. Republicans are unhinged threats to democracy, they say. The “election denier” charge is outrageously false and utterly bereft of dignity. It’s a banal way to dismiss an opponent out of hand without offering anything even approaching a real argument on the merits. And it came from a party that has specialized in denying election results for decades. It deserves nothing but scoffing, scorn, and rejection.

Yet that phony label stuck in voters’ minds, and Lake and a number of Republicans across the country will not serve in elected office as a result.

If Republicans do want to win, they’re going to have to figure out a way to counter that narrative. Cathartic as it may be, stomping their feet and yelling even louder probably isn’t going to do it.