Right-wing firebrand Kari Lake is still claiming to be the duly elected governor of Arizona in exile. Her case went to trial Wednesday, where she’ll need to argue her most extreme election denial conspiracy theories under oath. And while Lake may only be governor in her imagination, her persecution complex is still costing Arizona taxpayers real money.
While Lake may only be governor in her imagination, her persecution complex is still costing Arizona taxpayers real money.
Lake lost to her Democratic opponent, Katie Hobbs, by over 17,000 votes in 2022, but she accused Arizona election officials of fraud just one day later, before the official count had even been completed. Then came Lake’s sprawling, 10-point lawsuit, with legal briefs filled with fire-and-brimstone outrage and allegations of political persecution, but light on actual facts. Arizona Superior Court Judge Peter Thompson found Lake’s claims to be nonsense.
The Arizona Supreme Court agreed, saying Lake’s arguments lacked any legal merit. Critically, that decision also referred a single point of Lake’s case back to the lower courts for trial: the claim that Maricopa County election officials failed to properly verify signatures on mail-in ballots. That means Lake’s legally-challenged legal team has one last chance to harass election workers before closing the book on 2022.
Most Arizonans believe the 2022 election was fair, including a majority of Arizona Republicans. Ask MAGA Republicans about Lake, though, and you’ll hear a version of events divorced from both political and legal reality.
Former Donald Trump enforcer Steve Bannon confidently declared that Lake actually won the governor’s office in 2022. Trump chimed in too, with the claim that Democrats “took the election away from Kari Lake.” Right-wing podcaster Joe Oltmann, a Colorado resident, drove to Maricopa County to demand election officials hold a statewide “revote.”
Like all good myths, the story of Lake’s…
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