Kari Lake — the presumptive Republican nominee in Arizona's 2024 U.S. Senate race — recently embraced one lost cause while standing in front of the symbol of another.
The Guardian reported recently that Lake, who lost Arizona's gubernatorial election in 2022 to Democrat Katie Hobbs, continued to double down on her claims that the 2020 presidential election was "stolen" during a visit to a store selling merchandise in support of former President Donald Trump. That store openly displayed the Confederate battle flag, which was seen prominently in the background while Lake spoke to supporters in rural Navajo County. In addition to denying the results of the 2020 election, Lake also still refused to accept the results of the 2022 gubernatorial race.
At one point, the outlet reported that a supporter falsely said that Lake won the gubernatorial election (she actually lost by roughly 17,000 votes). Lake responded: "Of course we did. They stole our government," referring to Democrats.
READ MORE: Trump worried Kari Lake may cloud his chances of winning key state: report
Lake has been regularly making election denialism a key plank of her Senate primary campaign. That rhetoric, according to the Arizona Republic, could jeopardize the former news anchor's chances of attracting moderates in the general election, where she would face off against Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Arizona).
"The optics of an image of her in front of the symbol of the Confederacy could undermine her efforts to reach Arizona’s sizable independent voters and deepen the Democratic narrative of her as an extremist," the Republic's Ronald J. Hansen wrote.
In a speech last week to Republican voters, Lake again publicly doubted President Joe Biden was the true winner of the 2020 election, despite Trump's campaign losing virtually every post-election challenge in court. The Campaign Legal Center found that out of more than 60 cases — including some presided over by judges Trump appointed to the bench — Trump's lawyers lost all but one challenge&firstPage=true). That litigation was from a challenge to mail-in ballots in Pennsylvania that didn't impact the final result of the Keystone State's election results.
“I’m the only person running for U.S. Senate – either Republican or Democrat – who truly believes there was fraud in the election in 2020,” Lake said at the event. “Anybody believe there wasn’t fraud in 2020? Anybody believe Joe Biden really, truly got 81 million votes?”
READ MORE: Watch: Arizona senator fears Kari Lake's 'dangerous' rhetoric 'could get people hurt or killed'
Despite losing the gubernatorial race nearly two years ago, Lake confirmed on X/Twitter Friday she would be filing yet another appeal of a court decision rejecting her challenge of voting machine results in Maricopa County (which houses Phoenix). Lake lost Arizona's most populous county by approximately 37,000 votes. While there were technical issues with Maricopa County machines, a CNN fact check found that there was no "deliberate malfeasance" in the county's administration of the election.
"We’re trying to get rid of these damn machines that are corrupt," she said.
Arizona may end up deciding which party controls the House, Senate and White House in November, given the Grand Canyon State flipping from Donald Trump to Biden between 2016 and 2020, multiple contested U.S. House races and what's certain to be a close U.S. Senate race in November. Arizona's Senate primary is on July 30.
Click here to read the Guardian's report in full.
READ MORE: Maricopa County officials request sanctions against Kari Lake for 'demonstrably false statements'
