Former Republican Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake has said she is willing to take her midterm election appeals to the Supreme Court in her attempt to overturn November’s results.
Lake, who lost her race for Arizona governor to Democrat Katie Hobbs by more than 17,000 votes, has so far failed in every attempt to have the results reversed while pushing widely dismissed claims of voter fraud.
During an appearance at Donald Trump‘s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida alongside the former president on Tuesday, Lake said she is prepared to appeal to the Supreme Court, where the conservative bench contains three Trump-appointed judges.
Mario Tama/Getty Images
“Our movement is so massive that they had to stop us because we were going to do exactly what this amazing man [Trump] was doing for America in Arizona,” Lake said.
“And they didn’t want that. So we’re still fighting. We’re in the appeals court now. We’ll take it to the Arizona Supreme Court. We’re gonna go to the U.S. Supreme Court, but I will not stop fighting until we have our freedom back.”
Lake, a 2020 election denier who was endorsed in the midterms by Trump, is attempting to go through the courts as part of her bid to still be declared the new governor of Arizona, even after Hobbs was officially sworn in.
.@KariLake: “Our movement is so massive that they had to stop us. Because we were going to do exactly what this amazing man was doing for America in Arizona. Secure the border, Stop the Cartels, Bring Down Crime and Make Our Streets Safe Again. And they didn’t want that.” pic.twitter.com/HN9eC0KjtX
— Kari Lake War Room (@KariLakeWarRoom) January 11, 2023
In December, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Peter Thompson rejected Lake’s arguments, which focus on claims of problems with ballot printers at some polling places on Election Day, as they did not present “clear and convincing” evidence to suggest the Arizona governor’s election contained widespread voter fraud.
In January, Lake’s attempt to have her appeal against the decision be moved straight up to the Arizona Supreme Court rather than through a lower court was also rejected.
The Arizona Supreme Court noted that the Division I of the Arizona Court of Appeals is already due to hear possible oral arguments in the case on January 24.
“No good cause appears to transfer the matter to this Court,” Duty Justice John Lopez IV wrote in a ruling.
Experts have suggested that Lake is merely delaying the inevitable with her attempts to have the Supreme Court hear her arguments that the gubernatorial race contained voting irregularities which cost her the election.
“With the swearing in of Katie Hobbs, Kari Lake’s baseless effort to overturn the will of the voters is dead,” attorney and former U.S. Ambassador Norm Eisen previously told Newsweek. “She may appeal, but she will lose.”
Newsweek reached out to Lake for comment.