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Hobbs issues forceful apology for role in firing Black aide

Katie Hobbs holds small lead in Arizona's Secretary of State race

Bob Christie

<p>Arizona secretary of state candidate Katie Hobbs, right, chats with a supporter at a get-out-the vote event at the Arizona Education Association headquarters in Phoenix Saturday, Nov. 3, 2018. Hobbs is a Democrat facing businessman Steve Gaynor for the state office that oversees elections. (AP Photo/Bob Christie)</p>

By: Associated Press

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PHOENIX (AP) — Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs apologized “unequivocally” to a Black woman who was fired from her legislative job six years ago.

An apology video published to Twitter Wednesday is Hobbs' most forceful response to a firestorm that has threatened to upend her frontrunner campaign for governor. Hobbs has said she made a group decision to fire Talonya Adams from her job as a Democratic policy adviser in 2015, when Hobbs was the Senate’s top Democrat.

Federal juries found Adams’ termination was discriminatory. Hobbs initially deflected responsibility but now says her response was “short sighted, unnecessarily defensive and failed to meet the moment.”

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