Arizona judge rejects Lake's election lawsuit

An Arizona court on Saturday rejected Kari Lake’s efforts to overturn the results of November's gubernatorial election.

Lake, a Republican, lost by around 17,000 votes to Katie Hobbs, Arizona's secretary of state, but sued Maricopa County and Hobbs to overturn the results under the state's election contest statutes.

"The margin of victory as reported by the official canvass is 17,117 votes – beyond the scope of a statutorily required recount," Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Peter Thompson stated in his order. "A court setting such a margin aside, as far as the Court is able to determine, has never been done in the history of the United States. This challenge also comes after a hotly contested gubernatorial race and an ongoing tumult over election procedures and legitimacy – a far less uncommon occurrence in this country."

Lake's lawsuit filed Dec. 9 alleged that illegal votes were cast in the Nov. 8 midterm election and stated that “[t]he tabulators’ rejection of thousands of ballots set off a domino chain of electoral improprieties.”

Lake further claimed she was “entitled to an order vacating Maricopa County’s canvass and Arizona’s certification of the results of the 2022 election.”

"Plaintiff has no free-standing right to challenge election results based upon what Plaintiff believes – rightly or wrongly – went awry on Election Day," Thompson stated in his order. "She must, as a matter of law, prove a ground that the legislature has provided as a basis for challenging an election."

On Dec. 19, a Maricopa County Superior Court judge dismissed eight out of the 10 claims Lake originally made in her lawsuit. The judge allowed two of her claims of misconduct by election officials to go forward, but they were dismissed on Saturday.

Lake said she will appeal the ruling.

"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," she tweeted Saturday.

Lake, a former local TV news anchor, would not commit to accepting the results of her race during her campaign. She often repeated former President Donald Trump’s false claim that the 2020 election was rigged.

Rick Hasen, a professor at UCLA’s law school and one of the most prominent election law commentators in the country, said in a post that while Lake "got her day in court," she had "a chance to prove her allegations and utterly, utterly failed."

Zach Montellaro contributed to this report.