Trump says Kari Lake’s election race ‘not over yet’ despite her defeat

Trump falsely claimed ‘there were a lot of broken voting machines’ in Republican areas

Days after Kari Lake’s defeat in the Arizona governor’s race, Donald Trump said that she went through “an incredible election” and claimed that “it’s not over yet”.

Speaking at an event, he claimed that “there were a lot of broken voting machines” and alleged that those were in “largely Republican areas.”

The former president continued: “What happened there is a disgrace. But I want to tell you Kari, you did a good job and it’s not over yet.”

Last week, Mr Trump’s loyalist, Ms Lake, who has embraced his false narrative of a stolen 2020 election, lost her bid to be governor of Arizona.

She posted a video on her social media and told her supporters that her election loss was “unforgivable” and that she is “still in this fight”.

Refusing to concede elections, she falsely claimed that “tens of thousands” of voters in Maricopa county in Arizona had been disenfranchised. She even suggested legal action, saying she had assembled the “best and brightest” legal team.

“For two years I have been sounding the alarm about our election system in Arizona. And this past week has confirmed everything we’ve been saying,” she said. “Our election officials failed us miserably. What happened to Arizonans on election day is unforgivable.”

Her claims have been rubbished by the chairman of the Maricopa county board of supervisors, Bill Gates, who told the media that “we feel very confident that every voter had the opportunity to vote and have their vote counted. Nobody was disenfranchised”.

Democratic winner, Katie Hobbs, after her win, told supporters at a victory rally that Arizona voters chose “solving our problems over conspiracy theories” and “sanity over chaos”.

Meanwhile, the estate of late Tom Petty criticised Ms Lake on Friday for her “illegal” use of one of his top songs in her “failed campaign”.

In a statement, posted on Twitter, Petty’s estate said that it is exploring all legal options it has after the campaign used Petty’s hit, “I won’t back down” to promote her run for Arizona’s governor.