"Democracy is worth the wait," Hobbs wrote on Twitter, referring to the day-long vote count after last Tuesday's election. "Thank you, Arizona. I am so honored and proud to be your next governor."

Lake is a die-hard Trump supporter. Like her mentor, the former TV news anchor regularly expresses doubts about the legality of the 2020 presidential election. Lake also cast doubt on the TV stations' projections for the gubernatorial election in Arizona. The people of the state were not fooled, she wrote on Twitter. Trump raised allegations of fraud on his online platform Truth Social. "You just took the election away from Kari Lake. It's really bad out there," he wrote.

Several Trump-backed candidates suffered electoral defeats in last Tuesday's congressional and gubernatorial elections, which has weakened the 76-year-old's position within his party just ahead of the expected announcement of his renewed presidential candidacy.

Trump promised a "very big announcement" on Tuesday evening (9:00 p.m. local time; Wednesday 3:00 a.m. CET) at his private estate Mar-a-Lago in the state of Florida. The right-wing populist is then expected to announce that he wants to run in the 2024 presidential election.