Republican Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake implied the race she lost to her Democratic opponent, Katie Hobbs, was stolen.
Lake lost to Hobbs by one percentage point, 50%-49%, almost one week after voters headed to the polls. She called the election results “BS” in a Monday night tweet.
“Arizonans know BS when they see it,” she said.
Arizonans know BS when they see it.
— Kari Lake (@KariLake) November 15, 2022
Lake’s assertions come after Arizona faced major issues with voting machines, ballot-counting and hours-long lines at polling places. In Maricopa County, 60 malfunctioning voting machines created issues at a quarter of voting locations, according to Reuters. Although the election was held Tuesday, it took election officials six days to count the votes and call the race.
A judge in Maricopa County rejected a request by Republicans to keep polls open past 7 p.m., saying there was no evidence that a voter could not vote because of the machine issues, Reuters reported.
The Republican candidate previously said she would accept the election results if she won, telling “The Conservative Circus” podcast in October, “I’m going to win the election and I will accept that result.”
She centered her campaign around stolen election claims in connection to the 2020 presidential election. She previously said the so-called “rigged election” is the “biggest story out there.” (RELATED: ‘They’re Going To Have To Eat Their Own Words’: Kari Lake Fires Back At Those Turning Against Trump)
Her election skepticism landed her the endorsement of former President Donald Trump, who had led the effort to recount and audit the votes of the 2020 election. During the Republican primary race in August, she prematurely declared victory against the close race with her opponent, Karrin Taylor Robson, and suggested the election officials intentionally delayed the race because they did not want her to win.
A previous CNN segment called her a “rising star of the right-wing” and “proud spreader of lies” about the 2020 election before running an interview with CNN reporter Kyung Lah. During the interview, Lake accused Lah of not “giving a damn” about election integrity.
