Kari Lake Is Still Trying to Overturn Elections
Ross D. Franklin/AP
Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.Kari Lake is still trying to win the election she lost. Her latest move is a conspiratorial 70-page lawsuit filed in Arizona on Friday in which the former local news anchor asks that she be declared the victor of last month’s gubernatorial election because of unsupported allegations of voter fraud.
Lake’s lawsuit in state court argues that Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, who defeated Lake in November, and election officials in Maricopa County have “shattered” trust in the state’s elections. The results have already been certified by Hobbs, the state’s top elections official. There is no evidence the election was stolen.
Nevertheless, Lake’s lawsuit demands an “order setting aside the certified result of the 2022 Arizona gubernatorial election and declaring that Kari Lake is the winner of the 2022 Arizona gubernatorial election.” If the court won’t grant her the victory automatically, Lake asks instead that it forces Maricopa County to “re-conduct the gubernatorial election” under the “direction of a special master.”
The court is not expected to go along with either demand. Hobbs’ campaign manager called the case a “nuisance lawsuit” from someone who “needs attention like a fish needs water.
A statement from our campaign manager on Kari Lake’s latest desperate attempt to undermine our democracy and throw out the will of the voters.
Baseless lawsuits don’t vote. Arizonans do. pic.twitter.com/rcN5OPjdPa
— Gov-Elect Katie Hobbs (@katiehobbs) December 10, 2022
Abe Hamadeh, the Republican who narrowly lost his race to become Arizona’s attorney general, also filed a lawsuit on Friday asking a judge to overturn the results in his favor. Two other failed Republican candidates—Mark Finchem, Arizona Republicans’ election-denying secretary of state nominee, and congressional candidate Jeff Zink—brought a third lawsuit on Friday contesting their losses.
Lake always appeared to be one of the true believers in the Big Lie that the 2020 election was stolen. Since losing her own election last month, she has been promoting more unfounded theories about voter fraud.
Lake announced her lawsuit on Friday with a tweet that read “LFG,” slang for “Let’s fucking go.” Since then, she’s been retweeting the fringe figures supporting her effort.
LFG pic.twitter.com/pBPWONtAeW
— Kari Lake (@KariLake) December 10, 2022
Her lead attorney in the suit is Bryan James Blehm, who represented the Cyber Ninjas—a cybersecurity company that conducted a review of the 2020 election in Arizona—in their failed efforts to uncover fraud. Blehm does not appear to have any particular expertise in election law. On his LinkedIn, he describes himself as an “Experienced Attorney At Law with a demonstrated history of working in the law practice industry.”
