Suspect arrested after break in at Arizona Democratic candidate’s headquarters

GOP candidate Kari Lake stages press conference to accuse reporters of publishing ‘defamatory’ statements after Katie Hobbs condemned her opponent’s rhetoric after burglary

Police in Phoenix, Arizona have announced the arrest of a 36-year-old man suspected of breaking into the campaign office of a Democratic candidate for governor.

Daniel Mota Dos Reis was booked into Maricopa County Jail on 27 October on one count of third-degree burglary following a break in at Katie Hobbs’s campaign headquarters on Monday night.

He was already in custody for an unrelated burglary.

Surveillance footage released by the campaign shows a man walking up to the candidate’s office door.

On Thursday, an officer recognised Mr Dos Reis as a suspect in an unrelated case who was arrested earlier in the day. He was re-arrested and property that was allegedly stolen from the office was returned.

“We are very thankful that the Phoenix Police Department acted so quickly to arrest a suspect,” campaign manager Nicole DuMont said in a statement on Thursday afternoon. “We will continue to cooperate with law enforcement as this investigation unfolds.”

Ms Hobbs, who is currently secretary of state in Arizona, is in a tight race for the governor’s seat against far-right Republican candidate Kari Lake.

A statement from the Hobbs campaign earlier this week said that the candidate and her staff “have faced hundreds of death threats and threats of violence over the course of this campaign.”

“Let’s be clear: for nearly two years Kari Lake and her allies have been spreading dangerous misinformation and inciting threats against anyone they see fit,” according to the statement. “The threats against Arizonans attempting to exercise their constitutional rights and their attacks on elected officials are the direct result of a concerted campaign of lies and intimidation.”

The state’s Democratic Party said Ms Hobbs “and so many other elected officials are victims of threats and intimidation tactics like this.”

“Make no mistake – this is a direct result of Kari Lake and fringe Republicans spreading lies and hate and inciting violence – and it is despicable,” according to a party statement.

In an unrelated event on Wednesday night, Ms Lake called the statement “absurd”.

She called an “emergency” press event on Thursday to repudiate reporters and media outlets for publishing statements that suggested that Ms Lake or her rhetoric were connected to the crime.

Ms Lake accused reporters of “trying to influence” the election by “taking completely bogus stories and running with it.”