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Kari Lake, a former Republican candidate for governor of Arizona, suffered another setback this week when the Arizona Supreme Court rejected her request to transfer an election contest claim.
By filing a motion to transfer the case from the Division Two Court of Appeals to the state Supreme Court on May 31, according to an order from the state’s high court issued on Wednesday.
“Upon consideration of the Court en banc, no good cause appears to transfer the matter to this Court. Therefore, IT IS ORDERED denying the Petition for Transfer,” the Arizona Supreme Court said in a filing.
“Lake filed a total of 10 claims alleging that the election was stolen from her, but in December, eight of them were dismissed by Judge Peter Thompson. A trial in the same month resulted in the remaining two claims getting tossed,” Newsweek reported.
“Since December, Lake has continued to appeal her contests, filing several. In March, the state Supreme Court dismissed six of seven claims brought by Lake regarding the 2022 election. The remaining one was eventually dismissed by an Arizona trial court in May. The most recent ruling by the high court on Wednesday was in response to her appeal filed on the last day of May,” the outlet added.
While Lake is still challenging her loss in the 2022 Arizona gubernatorial election, she may be gearing up to run for the 2024 U.S. Senate election in Arizona.
While speaking at The Family Leadership Summit, a Christian conference held in Iowa, Lake said she believes she is the only candidate who could win next year’s Arizona Senate race as she contemplates whether she will toss her hat in the ring.
Lake said she will decide whether she will run for Arizona Independent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema’s seat in the next few months, potentially making a decision in the fall, The Hill reported.
“I’ve looked at the polling, to be honest, and I believe I’m the only one who can win that race,” Lake said. “We have an opportunity to pick up a very important seat so that when President Trump gets back into office, he can have people in D.C. ready to back him up with this incredible agenda.”
Should Lake decide on a Senate run, however, she already appears to have an advantage. Last month, one survey had Lake ahead of all other possible candidates in a hypothetical 2024 GOP Senate primary by 28 points, as reported by Just the News.
A recent poll conducted by JL Partners from April 10-12 showed that despite not announcing her plans to run for Sen. Kyrsten Sinema’s (I-Ariz.) seat, 38% of registered Arizona Republicans and undeclared voters would vote for Kari Lake.
Karrin Taylor Robson, who lost the GOP gubernatorial primary to Lake last year, came in second place with 10% support.
“Following Robson, Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb has 8%, 2022 Arizona Senate candidate Blake Masters has 7%, and 2022 Arizona Attorney General candidate Abraham Hamadeh has 4%,” the outlet reported. “No Arizona Republicans have entered the 2024 Senate primary, but Lake, Masters, and Hamadeh were all endorsed by former President Donald Trump last year in their respective primaries.”
The same survey found that in a hypothetical contest for the GOP presidential nomination next year, Trump is preferred over Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) by 23 points, with 47% supporting Trump and 24% supporting DeSantis, while 11% of voters were undecided.
Among the remaining declared and potential candidates, including former Vice President Mike Pence, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R-VA), former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), former Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney, and entrepreneur Vivek Ramayana all received single-digit support.
Additionally, 2% of voters endorsed another option. Pompeo and Youngkin have since confirmed that they will not be seeking the GOP nomination.
Last month, Lake teased what’s in store for her in the near future in a series of social media posts and interviews as speculation increases that she is eying a U.S. Senate run next year.
In a tweet in June, Lake wrote, “Are you ready for the next chapter?” — in a post that included a photo of her silhouetted on a stage with a state flag as her backdrop.
