Kari Lake Says Appeal Coming Following Dismissal from Superior Court Judge

Arizona Republican gubernatorial nominee Kari Lake had her election challenge completely dismissed by Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Peter Thompson Saturday. Following the ruling, Lake tweeted that an appeal would be coming.

“My Election Case provided the world with evidence that proves our elections are run outside of the law. This Judge did not rule in our favor. However, for the sake of restoring faith and honesty in our elections, I will appeal his ruling,” tweeted Lake.

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Legal Experts Weigh In on the Merits of Kari Lake’s Election Lawsuit

As the second day of Kari Lake’s trial contesting Arizona’s gubernatorial election wrapped up Thursday, various election law attorneys provided their analysis on social media and videos. Some were optimistic that Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Peter Thompson would grant Lake relief, declaring her the winner or calling for a new election, but some were not as optimistic.

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Day Two of Kari Lake Election Challenge Trial Sees More Witnesses, Closing Arguments from Both Sides

The court battle challenging the validity of the certified outcome of Arizona’s 2022 gubernatorial election entered its second day Thursday under Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Peter Thompson, with attorneys for Republican Kari Lake, Democrat Katie Hobbs, and Maricopa County presenting their final arguments in the trial. Lake seeks to either be declared the winner by the court in the gubernatorial race, in which she currently trails by roughly 17,000 votes, or require a new election. To do this, Lake’s team has to clear the high burden of demonstrating that intentional wrongdoing changed election outcomes. On the final day of the trial, Lake’s team brought in one witness, while the defendants presented four. Richard Baris The plaintiff’s first and final witness called to the stand was Richard Baris, director of Big Data Poll. He stated that Lake did not hire him before the election. “In over six years since we began releasing public polling on a steady basis in 2016, we have not inaccurately predicted the winner, outside of a sampling error, in a single poll. Not one,” said Baris. He conducted an exit poll in the Arizona 2022 General Election. Yet, on the morning of November 8th, he received…

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Leahy to Bannon: If Maricopa Fails to Document Chain of Custody, Lake Lawyers Must Prove It Altered Outcome of Election to Win Trial

Host Stephen K. Bannon welcomed The Star News Network’s CEO and Editor-in-Chief of The Arizona Sun-Times, Michael Patrick Leahy, on Thursday’s WarRoom: Battleground to highlight aspects of the ongoing election integrity lawsuit put forth by gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake and the alleged Maricopa County ballot harvesting.

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Expert in Kari Lake Election Suit: ‘No Doubt’ She Would Have Won Without Maricopa Election Day Chaos

Election modeling expert Richard Baris said Thursday in the Kari Lake election lawsuit that his projections showed as many as 40,000 voters were disenfranchised over Election Day chaos in Arizona’s Maricopa County, causing him to “have no doubt” that she would’ve won the gubernatorial election had there no problems at polling centers.

Baris is the final witness for Lake in the scheduled two-day trial for her election lawsuit.

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Day One of Kari Lake Election Contest Trial Sees Testimony from Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer and Election Integrity Expert Heather Honey

The first of two days of oral arguments from Arizona’s Republican gubernatorial nominee Kari Lake’s challenge of the 2022 general election outcome began Wednesday morning, overseen by Judge Peter Thompson in the Maricopa County Superior Court. Testimonies were heard from several officials and experts.

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Kari Lake Celebrates Election Challenge Moving Forward at AmericaFest 2022, ‘Christmas Came Early Yesterday’

PHOENIX, Arizona – While making another appearance at Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest 2022 to an enthused crowd in downtown Phoenix, Republican Kari Lake shared her reaction to her election challenge officially going to trial.

“This is so historic, and you know what? I couldn’t have done it without you,” Lake said. “A little over a day ago, I stood here on this stage, and I said, please pray, not just for me, but pray for our attorneys, for our witnesses. Pray for the judge, my goodness! You did it, and yesterday we got great news, we are taking these bastards to court.”

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Legal Throwdown in Arizona: Democrat Attorney Marc Elias Says Kari Lake Must Prove Alleged Wrongdoing Altered Outcome of Election

Kari Lake scored a significant legal victory on Monday when Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Peter Thompson ruled that two counts of her election contest against Secretary of State Katie Hobbs and Maricopa County Board of Supervisors will go to trial this week. The two day trial is expected to begin on Wednesday, and the judge’s ruling is expected by January 2, 2023, one day before the scheduled January 3 inauguration of Governor-elect Hobbs.

But the standard required to secure the legal remedy she seeks in her lawsuit – either a declaration that she, and not Democrat nominee Katie Hobbs, is the victor in the November 2022 Arizona gubernatorial election or an order that Maricopa County must redo the gubernatorial election – remains high.

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Judge Rules Kari Lake Election Contest Will Go to Trial

Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Peter Thompson ruled late Monday that Kari Lake’s election contest lawsuit will go to trial on Wednesday.

The judge’s ruling came hours after attorneys for the defendants–Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, and the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors–and the plaintiff, GOP gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake, delivered oral arguments in court on both sides of the defendants’ motion to dismiss all ten counts set forward in Lake’s 70 page lawsuit.

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Kari Lake Scores Major Win as Arizona Judge Orders Trial on Election Challenge

Arizona Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake’s election challenge will head to trial after a judge declined to dismiss her case and allowed the suit to proceed.

Lake announced the development via Twitter, saying “Katie Hobbs attempt to have our case thrown out FAILED. She will have to take the stand & testify. Buckle up, America. This is far from over.”

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Arizona Judge Hears Arguments in Kari Lake Election Lawsuit, Has yet to Make Decision on Dismissal

An Arizona judge heard oral arguments Monday in the case to dismiss 2022 GOP gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake’s election lawsuit but declined to make a decision.

Superior Court Judge of Maricopa County Peter Thompson is presiding over the case in which Lake is challenging the results of her gubernatorial bid against Governor-elect and Secretary of State Katie Hobbs. In addition to Hobbs, the other defendants in the case are Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer, the county Board of Supervisors, and county Director of Elections Scott Jarrett.

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Kari Lake, Dennis Prager, Josh Hawley, and More Headline TPUSA’s AmericaFest 2022 on Sunday

Turning Point USA’s annual AmericaFest continued its second day in Phoenix on Sunday, featuring a long lineup of well-known conservatives. Some of the standouts Sunday included Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake, who is currently fighting the results of a botched election in Arizona which resulted in Democrat Katie Hobbs being named the winner, co-founder of PragerU and talk show host Dennis Prager, and Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO). 

The theme of many of the speakers was to stay positive and avoid the negativity and self-centeredness of the left, see the good in the country, and the values and institutions like marriage and children which formed it. Lake’s speech focused on voter disenfranchisement that occurred in her race, declaring, “My pronouns are ‘I won’” and “election integrity is the single most important issue of our lifetime.” 

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Former Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline Warns About the Destruction of the Rule of Law if Kari Lake’s Election Lawsuit is Dismissed

As Kari Lake’s lawsuit contesting the results of the gubernatorial election winds its way through the legal system, various legal experts are speaking out on the merits of the case. Former Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline, who is currently a professor at Liberty University and director of the election integrity legal organization Amistad Project, warned on Friday that if Lake’s lawsuit is dismissed, allowing Democrat Katie Hobbs to become governor, it will undermine the rule of law. 

Kline tweeted, “If Hobbs is successful in dismissing Lake’s suit it only proves 1) election officials can violate procedure and law without accountability 2) partisan private vendors can still be used to conduct core government functions 3) legislators & others have failed to learn from 2020 and 4) many of those who claimed to fix the 2020 problems are wrong!” 

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Maricopa County’s Party-Specific Voter Turnout Heat Maps Raise New Election Integrity Concerns

Maricopa County, Ariz., uses in-person voter turnout data from prior elections for planning where to place vote centers for future elections, but the county also categorizes the data by political party, raising election integrity concerns that voters of different parties could possibly have different Election Day experiences based on their location. 

On Monday, a picture of a Republican in-person Election Day and early voting turnout heat map at Maricopa County Tabulation and Election Center (MCTEC) was tweeted by Kari Lake’s campaign Twitter account, linking to an UncoverDC article.

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Phillip Kline Says Kari Lake’s Lawsuit Reveals ‘Serious Flaws’ in Maricopa County’s Handling of Election

Former Kansas Attorney General Phillip Kline (R) shared his thoughts on Republican Kari Lake’s lawsuit contesting the 2022 General Election, saying the allegations shed light on severe issues in Maricopa County’s handling of the election.

“Despite media claims, Lake’s lawsuit reveals serious flaws in Maricopa’s handling of mail-in ballots-violations of procedures and possibly law. If the suit is dismissed it is due to gaps in AZ law, not lack of substance,” Kline tweeted in response to a New York Times article covering Lake’s lawsuit.

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Judge Holds Emergency Court Hearing over Election Lawsuit, Calls for Kari Lake and Katie Hobbs to Appear

Arizona Judge Peter Thompson issued an order Tuesday for Arizona gubernatorial nominees Kari Lake and Katie Hobbs to appear in court regarding the election lawsuit filed by Lake.

“The Court has reviewed Plaintiffs’ Verified Statement of Election Contest filed December 9, 2022. Because this matter is an election challenge, the return hearing will be set on an accelerated basis,” according to Thompson.

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Kari Lake Lawsuit Exposes Election Process Complexities in Maricopa County, Reliance on Third-Party Vendor

A lawsuit filed Friday by Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake contesting the results in the November 8, 2022, election in Maricopa County exposes, among other things, the complexities of the process for mail-in and drop-box ballots and the county’s reliance on a third-party vendor for essential election functions.

The 70-page complaint filed by Lake named Democratic gubernatorial opponent Katie Hobbs who is the Secretary of State of Arizona who certified the election in her favor on December 5, as well as Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer as an officer in charge of elections, Maricopa County Director of Elections for Election Day and Emergency Voting Scott Jarrett and the five members of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors.

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Kari Lake Files Lawsuit Loaded with Evidence Contesting Election Results

Two weeks after filing a complaint requesting data from the 2022 midterm election in Maricopa County, gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake has filed another lawsuit against election officials contesting the election results, alleging voter disenfranchisement and suppression. Lake called for a forensic audit of the printer-tabulator problems, an inspection of ballots and voter registration records, including signatures, disqualification of illegal votes, and redoing the election as well as other relief.

Kurt Olsen, one of the attorneys who filed the lawsuit, told The Arizona Sun Times he believes the election anomalies were “intentional since they didn’t test all of their equipment and follow the appropriate processes when problems arose.” He asked, “Why haven’t they done their own forensic audit 30 days later?” He said Maricopa County officials’ cavalier attitude about the problems and their lack of trying to find out what happened is telling. “Does anybody believe this widespread failure, oh shucks, just happened?” he wondered.

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Kari Lake Files Election Challenge in Arizona Court

Arizona Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake on Friday announced that she had filed an election challenge, alleging that the total number of illegal votes was greater than her opponent’s margin of victory.

Democratic Secretary of State Katie Hobbs was certified as the winner of the state’s gubernatorial contest earlier this month. State law requires that election results be first certified before a candidate may file a challenge.

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Arizona Faced a Similar Contentious Gubernatorial Race in 1916 That Dragged Out with Accusations of Voter Fraud

As the protests and litigation continue in Arizona, challenging the results of the 2022 midterm election where four Trump-endorsed candidates lost, some are looking at history to understand how the litigation may end. In 1916, a contentious gubernatorial race in Arizona, also fraught with accusations of voter fraud, resulted in a clear winner not being established until the next year, when the Arizona Supreme Court declared the Democrat, the winner.

Arizona historian and writer Donna Reiner relayed the story of that election for Arizona Agenda this fall, revealing how due to the feuding over who won, there were two governors both claiming to hold office for several months. It was Arizona’s third statewide election, after becoming a state in 1912, and incumbent Gov. George Wiley Paul Hunt, a Democrat and Arizona’s first governor, faced Republican challenger Thomas E. Campbell of Yavapai County.

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Data Analysts Question How 14 Percent of Arizona Voters Flipped to Oppose Trump Candidates Despite GOP Voter Registration Advantage

Investigations are continuing into the election anomalies in Arizona, where Republicans performed fairly well except for in the top four Trump-endorsed races. Since there are 4 percent more Republicans than Democrats in the state (as well as in Maricopa County), and most of the Republicans were easily beating their Democratic opponents in mainstream polls, data analysts are looking closely at the numbers. Analytics 805 examined the numbers of who voted in most of the races, and discovered that Republican candidates outside of the four races performed incredibly well in contrast, as much as 30 percent better.

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Attorney General Mark Brnovich States He Will Defend Election Laws After Certifying the 2022 General Election

Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich (R) released a statement Monday, a mere hours after certifying the canvass of the Arizona General Election, saying he will continue to enforce and defend Arizona’s election laws throughout his term.

“As we gather today to solidify the 2022 midterm election results, many Arizonans of all political persuasions continue to have doubts about our election processes,” said Brnovich. “As attorney general, I have made it one of my office’s highest priorities to defend our election laws and advocate for changes when necessary. I will continue to do so throughout the end of my term.”

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Georgia U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene Calls for Federal Investigation Over Emails from Arizona Sec State Hobbs to Twitter

Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA-14) wants a federal investigation in Arizona where Kari Lake is disputing results of the gubernatorial election against Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, whose office reports preliminary results that Hobbs has won 50.3 percent to 49.6 percent. Greene’s call was also a reaction to a post of emails showing that Hobbs’ office reported misinformation tweets to Twitter on January 7, 2021.

“The SOS of AZ and Gov candidate, Katie Hobbs, used the power of the AZ SOS to collude w/ Twitter to unconstitutionally violate 1st Amendment rights of Americans for her own political gain. This is communism and Hobbs can not be governor. I’m calling for a Federal investigation,” Greene tweeted Sunday morning.

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Candidates Hopeful for Election Challenges After Certification, Since Early Lawsuits Had Less Statutory Backing

The Trump-endorsed slate of candidates in Arizona’s top races who allegedly lost their races have started pursuing legal challenges over what they believe was an election rampant with voter disenfranchisement and suppression. One of the first challenges was turned away on Tuesday as premature, a lawsuit by Attorney General candidate Abe Hamadeh and the Republican National Committee (RNC), but election law attorneys say this should not be taken as a sign that there are no valid grounds to overturn the election. 

Bob Brickman, an election and regulatory attorney in Phoenix, told The Arizona Sun Times while he “understands the strategy of suing now, since fraud really should be challengeable any time, Arizona law is clear that election challenges cannot be brought until five days after after the state has certified the results, which is scheduled for Dec. 5.” 

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Kari Lake Campaign Says Sanction Against Her Is a Message to ‘Shut Up’ and ‘Not Come to Court’

Arizona’s Republican gubernatorial nominee, Kari Lake, and Secretary of State nominee Mark Finchem have been sanctioned by an Obama-appointed U.S. District Judge, John Tuchi, in a lawsuit they filed to prevent the use of electronic voting machines in the Arizona election. The Lake Campaign said this is a message to those who lose an election not to take their case to court.

“This case is not about money or gain. It was essentially a public interest lawsuit seeking electoral integrity. It is very very rare to sanction a party in public interest suits,” said the Lake Campaign in a statement shared with the Arizona Sun Times. “All in all this reads like an angry Obama appointee who wants to send a message. The message is if you lose shut up and don’t come to court. The message is not that you lost a case or acted in bad faith.”

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Arizona Governor-Elect Hobbs Ultimatum to County Board: Certify Her Election or Face Felony Rap

The office of Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, now the governor-elect, threatened the Mohave County Board of Supervisors with legal action and criminal referral unless they certified the 2022 vote in their county.

Mohave County waited until Nov. 28, the deadline for Arizona counties to certify, to vote on the certification of its election because of the host of issues that plagued Election Day in Maricopa County, casting a cloud over Hobbs’ razor-thin victory in the gubernatorial race over GOP nominee Kari Lake, the consistent leader in pre-election opinion polling.

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Kari Lake Reassures Her Supporters That Fight in Arizona Is Not Over Yet

Arizona’s Republican gubernatorial nominee Kari Lake released an update Monday telling her followers that she is not backing away from her fight for the governor’s office and election reform in the state.

“While we come together on this unifying issue of restoring honesty to our elections, rest assured, Arizona, nothing will stop me from putting everything I have into reforming elections here in Arizona and in America,” Lake said.

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Maricopa County Board Supervisor Steve Gallardo Serving on Katie Hobbs Transition Team

Maricopa County District 5 Supervisor Steve Gallardo recently announced that he joined the transition team for Governor-Elect, Democrat Katie Hobbs as she prepares to take office in January.

“Honored to be part of Governor-Elect Hobbs transition team. I look forward to working with such a diverse group of Arizona leaders,” tweeted Gallardo.

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No Financial Data Reported for Maricopa County Recorder Richer’s PAC Since October 22, Two Weeks Prior to Election

While Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer is coming under increased scrutiny for his founding and operation of a political action committee (PAC), the next required opportunity for the public’s visibility on his PAC’s activity is mid-January nearly two months after he sought to influence the November 8 general election.

According to the Arizona Secretary of State website regarding campaign finance reporting dates, filings for the post-general election period of October 23 to December 31, 2022, are not due until the earliest date of January 1 and not later than January 17, 2023.

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Kari Lake Files First Election Challenge Lawsuit, Vows More Action Ahead

Arizona GOP gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake said Wednesday that she sued Maricopa County to force it to release documents about voting irregularities in the midterms, a prelude to a larger legal challenge where she’s planning to challenge the election results.

“Every single rule was pretty much broken when it came to Election Day voting where they punish the people who chose to show up on Election Day,” Lake said on the Wednesday edition of the “Just the News, No Noise” TV show. “So we filed this lawsuit in court today asking the county to cough up some of the public documentation we need for our bigger lawsuit.”

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Automatic Recount Coming for Arizona Attorney General and Other Races

Counties across Arizona have finished counting votes for the 2022 General Election, but several races remain too close to call and are within range of an automatic recount, including the highly contested race for Arizona Attorney General.

“We’re not done fighting and we are optimistic the recount will further expose the gross incompetence and mismanagement by Maricopa County officials that disenfranchised and silenced the voices of so many Arizona voters,” tweeted Abe Hamadeh, the Republican nominee for the position.

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Maricopa County Voting Centers Plagued with Tabulation Errors on Election Day Affected Areas Averaging Well Over 300 Percent More Republicans Than Democrats

Voters encountered problems casting their ballots at 70 of the 223 vote centers in Maricopa County on Election Day, November 8, 2022, resulting in long lines and concerns that ballots ended up not tabulated or “misread,” and commingled with ballots that had already been tabulated. Averaged together, the problems occurred in areas where Election Day voting was more than 300 percent Republican versus Democrat. Of those 70 precincts affected, 59 were in heavily Republican-voting areas, and two were Republican-leaning but not heavily, with only nine from Democrat-leaning or solidly Democrat areas.

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Kelli Ward May Not Seek Reelection as Chairman of Arizona GOP

Following the apparent losses of major races to Democrats in the state, Arizona Republican Party (AZGOP) Chairwoman Dr. Kelli Ward has faced calls to resign from her position, with significant backlash coming from former Republican gubernatorial candidate Karrin Taylor Robson. However, Tyler Bowyer from Turning Point USA said this backlash is unnecessary because Ward will not be seeking reelection as party chair.

“Karrin has been a no-show, never helped GOP only herself, did zero after she lost & only helped Dems turnout for prop 308 to help illegals. If she was semi-involved she’d already know Ward isn’t even running,” tweeted Bowyer.

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A Recount Could Take Place in Arizona’s Close Gubernatorial Race, Other Races

With almost all of the ballots tabulated from Arizona’s midterm election, some races may end up so close that they trigger the state’s automatic recount provision. The governor’s race is separated by 17,200 votes, with Democrat Katie Hobbs leading Republican Kari Lake 50.3 percent to 49.7 percent. A recount is required where the difference “is less than or equal to one-half of one percent of the number of votes cast for both such candidates or on such measures or proposals.”

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Arizona Activists Report Their Demand for ‘Fair and Free Election’ Is Catching Fire Across Nation

Activists in Arizona have spearheaded a campaign for demands for a “fair and free election” that, they say, is already beginning a national movement to counter election fraud.

Spurred on by the projection that Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs (D) has defeated Republican Kari Lake, Joe Oltmann, founder of FEC United, Lance Migliaccio, host of “The Big Mig,” and David Clements, a New Mexico State University professor and one of the leading advocates for election audits and against vaccine mandates, laid out for their listeners the demands that start with a new election on December 6, Gateway Pundit reported.

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Arizona Moves Closer to Certifying Election Results, Braces for Possible Election Challenges by Kari Lake and Others

A staffer for Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake told The Arizona Sun Times that the candidate is preparing a lawsuit challenging the election results.  Lake said during a Monday evening interview with Fox News’ Jesse Watters that she has concerns about certifying the election. “I can’t imagine our version of Joe Biden, Katie Hobbs, would win,” Lake said. “She didn’t campaign, she hid in her basement. She is a twice-convicted racist. I can’t believe the people of Arizona would vote for her and that she would win. But if that what’s happens at the end of the day, how do you certify an election that is this botched? And she’s the one that would certify her own election where it was botched. Where the machines didn’t work in more than a third of the polling centers.”

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Kari Lake Edges Katie Hobbs in Latest Maricopa County Election Results, But Not by Enough

The Monday night election results reporting by Maricopa County showed a strong 56.8 percent to 43.2 percent advantage to Republican gubernatorial hopeful Kari Lake, but it was not enough to pull her ahead of Democrat Katie Hobbs in the overall, statewide vote count.

Although there is still an estimated 5,000 to 15,000 outstanding ballots to Maricopa County, election watchers at Associated Press, CNN, and Decision Desk HQ called the hotly contested gubernatorial race for Democrat Katie Hobbs.

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Rachel Mitchell Declares Victory in Maricopa County Attorney Race

Maricopa County Attorney (MCA) Rachel Mitchell declared her victory Monday morning in the race to retain her title in the 2022 General Election.

“As a lifelong Arizonan who has dedicated my career to the safety of our neighborhoods and families, I am deeply honored this community has overwhelmingly shown its support and trust in my leadership of the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office,” Mitchell tweeted. “I will continue working with law enforcement and community leaders to hold criminals accountable, increase the use of treatment to rehabilitate where appropriate, deliver justice for victims, and put the safety of Maricopa County residents first.”

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