Kari Lake: Election denier calls Arizona loss ‘unforgivable’ as she still refuses to concede race
Far-right candidate calls results ‘BS’ after falling short in governor’s race
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Kari Lake is showing no signs of conceding after she was projected to lose the race for Arizona governor to Democratic rival Katie Hobbs.
The Donald Trump-endorsed Republican traveled to his Mar-a-Lago residence on Thursday, days after the former president announced his entry into the 2024 presidential race.
Ms Lake, who has dutifully embraced his false narrative of a stolen 2020 election, has sought to represent the state that birthed the “Stop the Steal” movement and was central to conspiracy theory-fuelled audits after Joe Biden’s victory.
In a video posted to social media on Thursday morning, she called her election loss “unforgivable” and told her supporters she is “still in this fight”, repeating unfounded claims that a “broken election system” had “disenfranchised” “tens of thousands” of voters in the state.
Ms Hobbs told supporters at a victory rally this week that Arizona voters chose “solving our problems over conspiracy theories” and “sanity over chaos”.
Damning letter from Arizona GOP official demands resignation of state party chair
Under Kelli Ward’s leadership of the Arizona GOP, 2022 midterm elections will be the first in nearly 50 years that Republicans have lost a majority of statewide races.
Karrin Taylor Robson, a former member of the Arizona Board of Regents, called for Ms Ward’s resignation.“Kelli Ward’s leadership of the Republican Party has been an unmitigated disaster,” she wrote in a damning letter on Tuesday.
“For the good of the party she claims to love, and for the future of the state that we all cherish, Kelli Ward must do the right thing,” she added. “Kelli Ward must resign as the Arizona Republican Party Chairman.”
ICYMI: Katie Hobbs pledges to protect abortion rights in state with century-old ban
In a speech to supporters on Tuesday, governor-elect Katie Hobbs said she will move to repeal a more than century-old ban on abortion in the state that was allowed to take effect after the US Supreme Court struck down Roe v Wade.
The anti-abortion law was updated in 1901. But Arizona didn’t become a state until 1912. The sweeping abortion prohibition from the state’s territorial history decades earlier has remain on the books, but unenforced, for more than a century, despite the landmark 1973 Supreme Court ruling found the law and others like it unconstitutional.
In September, two months after the Supreme Court struck down Roe v Wade, a judge allowed the ban to take effect.
Steve Bannon claims Kari Lake will fight election outcome ‘to the bitter end’
Far-right activist and former Trump aide Steve Bannon was reportedly “clear-eyed about the unfavorable numbers” before Kari Lake’s election loss.
But he told his War Room listeners this week that Ms Lake’s campaign – backed by Trump allies and far-right activist groups – is working “behind the scenes” to challenge Katie Hobbs’s vistory.
“Don’t think that Kari Lake that is not going to fight this one down to the bitter end,” he said.
He repeatedly suggested that the state decertify the results, echoing his baseless narrative that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump – claims that have been popular fundraising mechanisms to propel ultimately unsuccessful reactionary campaigns over the last two years.
But off the airwaves, Ms Lake’s campaign was being advised to a more measured approach to the outcome and not “storm the castle,” according to The Washington Post.
Arizona voters call on Maricopa County officials to resign and cancel the election in public hearing
In a hearing on Wednesday, one week and a day after Election Day, Maricopa County’s Board of Supervisors were hit with a flood of complaints during a public hearing alleging malfeasance in the wake of GOP losses in statewide races.
ABC 15 reporter Nicole Grigg compiled a reel of their complaints:
ICYMI: Damning letter from Arizona GOP official demands resignation of state party chair
Under Kelli Ward’s leadership of the Arizona GOP, 2022 midterm elections will be the first in nearly 50 years that Republicans have lost a majority of statewide races.
Karrin Taylor Robson, a former member of the Arizona Board of Regents, called for Ms Ward’s resignation.
“Kelli Ward’s leadership of the Republican Party has been an unmitigated disaster,” she wrote in a damning letter on Tuesday.
“For the good of the party she claims to love, and for the future of the state that we all cherish, Kelli Ward must do the right thing,” she added. “Kelli Ward must resign as the Arizona Republican Party Chairman.”
ICYMI: Kari Lake campaign accuses Arizona election officials of running a ‘third world election’
Kari Lake has not conceded in the race for Arizona governor, and her campaign has shared videos of people accusing election officials and poll workers of malfeasance.
Her campaign’s “war room” Twitter account has accused her opponent and current secretary of state Katie Hobbs as well as election officials in Maricopa County of running a “third world election” that is “creating a whole generation of new ‘election deniers’.”
Videos shared by the campaign show voters detailing problems with ballot processing machines, which election officials had admitted were an issue as technical difficulties led to delays and frustrations.
There was a solution: Voters could place their ballots in a secure box at each polling location used for that exact issue. “Box 3” boxes have been the subject of conspiracy theories and rampant speculation, suggesting that the ballots were tossed out entirely.
But some of Ms Lake’s chief allies told voters not to trust them, including Kelli Ward, chair of the state GOP:
Election deniers overwhelmingly failed in 2022. The candidates who defeated them are bracing for 2024
Voters rejected Republicans in critical state-level races running on bogus election narratives and endless grievances.
After beating them, newly elected officials warn that the GOP movement of Trump loyalists and conspiracy theorists isn’t over yet.
Election deniers overwhelmingly failed in 2022. The threat isn’t over
Voters rejected Republicans in critical state-level races running on bogus election narratives and endless grievances. After beating them, newly elected officials warn that the GOP movement of Trump loyalists and conspiracy theorists isn’t over yet, Alex Woodward reports
ICYMI: A small group of Kari Lake supporters stage statehouse protest
A small but vocal group of Kari Lake’s supporters who refused to accept the outcome of the governor’s race rallied outside the state capitol in Arizona on Tuesday.
Roughly 15 people gathered at the statehouse waving flags emblazoned with pro-Trump messages and “SOS”.
Less than 20 Kari Lake supporters turn out for protest against Arizona election loss
Kari Lake has refused to concede after race was called to Democrat Katie Hobbs on Monday night
GOP megadonor splits with Trump: Time for ‘new generation of leaders’
An influential conservative donor announced on Tuesday that he was not supporting Donald Trump for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, a stance that shows just how deep the fractures within the GOP may run after last week’s midterms.
“America does better when its leaders are rooted in today and tomorrow, not today and yesterday,” said Stephen Schwarzman, CEO of Blackstone, in a statement to Axios.
“It is time for the Republican Party to turn to a new generation of leaders and I intend to support one of them in the presidential primaries,” he added.
GOP megadonor splits with Trump: Time for ‘new generation of leaders’
Stephen Schwarzman’s search for new candidate illustrates deeper divide in GOP
Voices: ‘Trump’s 2024 announcement proves it – he’s the weakest and most desperate he’s ever been’
Ahmed Baba writes:
Trump’s only real talent is his ability to identify and shamelessly exploit the weaknesses in people, cultures, and systems. In 2016, he was a privileged, self-interested con man who saw the flaws in America as mere weapons to be used for his advantage. He served as a mirror that reflected the country’s worst blemishes. As long as these flaws still exist, there will always be an environment for Trump or a Trump-like figure to exploit them.
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