Court Rules Against Arizona Democrat in $2.7 Million Racial Discrimination Case
17th November 2021
The Democratic frontrunner for Arizona governor played a central role in firing a black female staffer after she complained that she was paid less than her white male colleagues, a federal court jury found in a multimillion-dollar discrimination case.
The jury awarded that state legislative staffer, Talonya Adams, $2.75 million after it found that Adams “was being discriminated against on the basis of race or sex with respect to her pay and was terminated for that reason” in 2015. Adams blamed Arizona secretary of state Katie Hobbs (D.) for the firing, saying Hobbs—who served as minority leader in the state senate at the time—”seems wholly disconnected from people of color.”
“This was Katie Hobbs’s decision,” Adams told Phoenix-based 12 News. “I think she’s always been very uncomfortable with minorities. She seems wholly disconnected from people of color.”