Kari Lake critics celebrated on Saturday after a judge rejected her lawsuit claiming to show evidence of election fraud during the Arizona gubernatorial race during last month’s midterms.
Lake—a Republican who blamed her loss on election fraud—filed a lawsuit earlier in December alleging fraud in the election, which she narrowly lost to her Democratic opponent, Secretary of State Katie Hobbs. Lake, who was endorsed by former President Donald Trump, claimed she actually won by 400,000 to 500,000 votes, but provided no evidence to back it up.
On Saturday, Maricopa County Superior Judge Peter Thompson ruled that Lake’s legal team failed to provide “clear and convincing” evidence of misconduct by Arizona election officials. Thompson wrote in his decision that the state’s election system is not “perfect,” but “more than sufficient to comply with the law and conduct a valid election.”
Lake’s critics then celebrated her loss on social media, praising the ruling for upholding Hobbs’ victory. Hobbs defeated Lake by less than 1 percentage point, winning 1,287,891 votes to Lake’s 1,270,744 votes in one of the closest races of the midterms.
Harvard legal scholar Laurence Tribe described the ruling as “good,” but not unexpected.
“Kari Lake is as phony as they get, her lawsuit as frivolous as any,” he tweeted.
Good though not unexpected news. Kari Lake is as phony as they get, her lawsuit as frivolous as any. https://t.co/M8JcZeZRHk — Laurence Tribe (@tribelaw) December 24, 2022
Writer Tim Miller tweeted: “Merry Christmas to us!”
Merry Christmas to us! https://t.co/NOsetkEFIH — Tim Miller (@Timodc) December 24, 2022
“Like her mentor, she’ll never acknowledge the truth. She lost,” tweeted political adviser David Axelrod, referring to Trump, who also blamed his 2020 defeat on widespread election fraud, without preventing evidence.
Like her mentor, she’ll never acknowledge the truth. She lost. https://t.co/o7aYGwcJLl — David Axelrod (@davidaxelrod) December 24, 2022
Attorney Bradley Moss tweeted: “Kari Lake knew she lost. She didn’t care. She, like Trump, knows her base is filled with ignorant and gullible rubes who will fill her coffers so she can run her martyr scam for months and months. She uses those people because they’re too ignorant to recognize the scam.”
Kari Lake knew she lost. She didn’t care. She, like Trump, knows her base is filled with ignorant and gullible rubes who will fill her coffers so she can run her martyr scam for months and months. She uses those people because they’re too ignorant to recognize the scam. — Bradley P. Moss (@BradMossEsq) December 24, 2022
MeidasTouch, a Twitter account that posts in support of Democratic causes, taunted Lake over the decision, tweeting: “Just a quick reminder for Kari Lake: Katie Hobbs will be your governor.”
Just a quick reminder for Kari Lake: Katie Hobbs will be your governor. pic.twitter.com/4qyDf8nq4h — MeidasTouch (@MeidasTouch) December 24, 2022
Following the ruling, Lake pledged to appeal it, writing on Twitter that her lawsuit “provided the world with evidence that proves our elections are run outside of the law.”
Her loss comes after a difficult few weeks for Arizona Republicans, who faced courtroom defeats in two other recent lawsuits challenging the results from the midterm elections.
On Friday, Maricopa County Judge Lee Jantzen ruled against a lawsuit filed by GOP attorney general candidate Abraham Hamadeh, who lost to Democrat Kris Mayes by only 511 votes.
In the secretary of state race, Maricopa County Judge Melissa Julian ruled against GOP candidate Mark Finchem’s similar lawsuit, writing that none of his allegations constitute “‘misconduct’ sufficient to survive dismissal.” Finchem lost by more than 100,000 votes to his Democratic challenger, Adrian Fontes.
However, Republicans did not contest Democrat Mark Kelly’s victory in the closely-watched Senate race. Kelly defeated Trump-endorsed Republican Blake Masters by nearly 5 percentage points.
Newsweek reached out to Lake’s campaign for further comment.
Kari Lake Critics Cheer Her Arizona Court Loss: ‘Merry Christmas to Us!’
