Kari Lake Wants to Take Arizona Election Fight to U.S. Supreme Court

Former Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake on Tuesday announced her intention to keep pushing her election case toward the U.S. Supreme Court after suffering a major loss in court.

Lake made the announcement after a judge ruled that her legal team did not have sufficient evidence to prove that ballot workers did not sufficiently conduct signature matching on ballots.

Previously a veteran news anchor in the Phoenix area, Lake won the GOP nomination for governor but came up short against Democrat Katie Hobbs in a tight race in November, losing by about 17,000 votes. Lake, like former President Donald Trump after the 2020 election, refused to acknowledge the loss, even as Hobbs was sworn in. Lake took the matter to court, arguing that polling site irregularities in Maricopa County, the largest county in Arizona, had disproportionately impacted Republican voters and cost her the race.

Her challenges were consistently dismissed in court, including Monday's ruling. But during a press conference Tuesday, she pledged to continue fighting her loss in court with the intent of trying to get her argument before the Supreme Court. She also claimed that her legal team "proved our elections are a mess" and that "signature verification is a joke." She also said she was not surprised by the judge's decision.

Lake also announced a new ballot-chasing initiative, which she claimed was the largest in Arizona and possibly in the country. Such operations involve reaching out to registered voters and those who have requested mail-in ballots to assure that they submit the ballots on time. Lake claimed that the initiative has already raised more than $1 million in funding.

Lake was among numerous Republican candidates in the Arizona primaries and received Trump's endorsement. She continues to stand behind the "Big Lie" about the 2020 election being stolen from him.

Lake's loss was seen as part of a broader midterm trend of candidates backed by Trump losing in competitive races, calling into question his continued influence over the GOP and its political future.

Lake has remained a prominent figure in Republican politics, despite her lack of electoral success and lack of experience in any elected office, making the rounds to numerous conservative events over the past several months. Following her latest loss in court, Lake teased a forthcoming announcement, which some took as a hint about a potential U.S. Senate run. She dismissed the rumor at the start of her address on Tuesday but did not rule out in the long term.

Newsweek reached out to Hobbs' office via email for comment.