For Immediate Release
Tues, Sept. 20th, 2022

Contact: Josselyn Berry, Jberry@azdem.org
On National Voter Registration Day Kari Lake Again Refuses to Say She’ll Accept Election Results if She Loses  

With Less Than 50 Days Until The Election, Lake Continues to Spew Election Conspiracy Theories 

PHOENIX– Kari Lake is once again refusing to say if she would accept the election results, and with less than 50 days until the election, she’s continued to push unfounded election conspiracy theories. A recent Washington Post article reported that Lake was one of a dozen candidates who “declined to say that they would accept this year’s result.” This is not the first, second or even third time that Lake has refused to say if she’ll accept the results of the gubernatorial election if she loses. At a June 28 fundraiser Mark Finchem said, “Ain’t gonna be no concession speech coming from this guy. I’m going to demand a 100% hand count if there’s the slightest hint that there’s an impropriety. And I will urge the next governor to do the same.” Lake replied “absolutely” to that suggestion, noting that Trump never conceded his 2020 loss. “He did not concede, and I think that was really smart because that was the most dirty, filthy, rotten election I’ve ever seen,” Lake said.

In an interview with Billy Harfosh, Lake implied she would not accept a Hobbs victory if the legislature fails to pass new voting restrictions. When Harfosh asked if Lake would accept a loss to Katie Hobbs, Lake responded, “I mean, if the election’s run like last one, where they blocked people off, you can’t get in to observe, you can’t get in to be a poll watcher. They stopped counting in the middle of the night. Then I think everyone should pause and say, what the hell just happened?”  Lake is so obsessed with the 2020 election that she’s said it’s the most important issue in Arizona, above immigration, water, and the economy, saying “if we don’t have a fair election, nothing else matters.”

“Arizona voters are frankly over Lake’s blatant lies about elections and want a governor who’s focused on tackling the real issues. Doubling down on the lie that the 2020 election was stolen may have helped Lake in a GOP primary, but it’ll get her nowhere with Arizona voters who have already moved on,” said Josselyn Berry, Spokesperson for the Arizona Democratic Party.

More Background on Lake’s Election Lies:

• Since launching her campaign, Lake has aggressively spewed a steady stream of election lies and after recently losing a lawsuit against Secretary Hobbs to force hand-counting of ballots  for election day, she is doubling down by appealing the case which will surely result in another conspiracy failure. Lake has consistently and falsely claimed the 2020 election was “stolen” and “corrupt.” Lake has also said of Biden: “He lost the election, and he shouldn’t be in the White House.”

• At the GOP primary debate, Lake claimed that the right-wing and fraudulent 2020 election audit was proof the election was rigged, and defended the right-wing propaganda film, “2,000 Mules.”  In the days leading up to the primary election, Lake warned that something was going very wrong. “We’re already detecting some stealing going on,” Lake said at a campaign stop the week before the election. Hours before the polls closed, she hadn’t changed her tune, saying “If we don’t win, there’s some cheating going on. And we already know that.” After she was declared the winner however, Lake dropped all talk of fraud and never produced a single piece of evidence.