Kari Lake Says She Is Still ‘Laser-Focused’ on Arizona Election Lawsuit

Arizona Republican gubernatorial nominee Kari Lake speaks to supporters during her election night event at The Scottsdale Resort at McCormick Ranch in Scottsdale, Ariz., on Nov. 8, 2022. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake responded to questions about her political future by saying that she is focused on pursuing her election-related lawsuit as it plays out in the state Supreme Court but is leaving the door open for a Senate run.

“People keep asking me about my future. But I am laser-focused on seeing my court case through to the end. That’s my present. As for the future? I can promise you that I’m not stepping out of the political arena anytime soon. Not until I put the people of Arizona First,” she wrote on Twitter.

But in an interview with OANN, Lake said that she is strongly considering running for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.), who is up for reelection in 2024.

“I am seriously considering a run for Senate, yes absolutely,” Lake said. “Just because they stole an election … we’re so dangerous to them, I’m so dangerous to the status quo and this rotten swamp that they’re willing to steal an election to stop me and our movement. I’m not letting them get away with that. We’re not going away. And so I am seriously considering a run for Senate.”

Lake touted internal poll numbers against Sinema and Democratic candidate Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.). Reports have indicated that Sinema will run as an independent, potentially pitting herself against Lake and Gallego, who declared his candidacy for Senate several months ago.

Sinema, however, has not publicly confirmed whether she will run. But Sinema, a former Democrat-turned-independent, already filed her candidacy with the Federal Election Commission and identified as an independent.

“All the polling shows that I would win,” Lake also told OANN. “Not just the primary, the polling is showing that I would beat Kyrsten Sinema and this socialist guy that’s running for the Democrats, [Rep. Ruben] Gallego.”

Earlier in 2023, a spokesperson for Lake told news outlets that she met with members of a Senate Republican team in Washington. Few details about the meeting have been revealed, while Lake has said she will continue to pursue her election lawsuit.

Her initial lawsuit, filed days after the Nov. 8 election, said that Republican voters were disenfranchised on Election Day due to widespread issues at Maricopa County polling locations stemming from how the printers were configured. Election officials in Maricopa on Election Day confirmed the printer problem but asserted that no Election Day voters were significantly impacted.

Court Challenge

On March 23, the Arizona Supreme Court declared that most of Lake’s lawsuit was invalid and “insufficient to warrant the requested relief” under state or federal law. One of her claims, the court wrote, was improperly dismissed and said the Arizona Court of Appeals interpreted Lake’s challenge to Maricopa County’s signature verification process in an incorrect manner.

“Contrary to the ruling of the trial court and the Court of Appeals Opinion, this signature verification challenge is to the application of the policies, not to the policies themselves,” the court said, essentially keeping Lake’s challenge alive. “Therefore, it was erroneous to dismiss this claim under the doctrine of laches because Lake could not have brought this challenge before the election.”

But the state Supreme Court rejected the GOP candidate’s claim of intermingled ballots and asserted that “the record does not reflect that 35,563 unaccounted ballots were added to the total count.” The order said that the “Court of Appeals aptly resolved these issues, most of which were the subject of evidentiary proceedings in the trial court.”

If the state Supreme Court rejects Lake’s lawsuit targeting Maricopa County’s signature verification process, it’s not clear if she will appeal her case to a higher, federal court.