Failed Arizona Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake is holding out hope that she will win her race against Democrat Katie Hobbs, even though that outcome is a mathematical impossibility given the current vote totals.
“I still have hope that we’re gonna win this. I want you to know that. This is not hyperbole. This lawsuit that we will be dropping is going to be devastating. I believe we will win this,” Lake told former Trump adviser Steve Bannon on an episode of his podcast, the War Room.
“You’re gonna win this,” Bannon assured.
“This is their absolute plan and it’s up in broad daylight and somebody’s gotta call it out. This stinks to high heaven and everybody’s going to be held accountable for this,” Bannon said.
Kari Lake to Steve Bannon: "I still have hope that we're gonna win this."
Bannon: "You're gonna win this."
😆😆😆😆😆😆 pic.twitter.com/4o1Xa2YJ5j
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) November 23, 2022
Bannon went on to argue that Lake’s loss to Arizona Democratic Secretary of State Katie Hobbs was illegitimate.
“They have disenfranchised Kari Lake, the citizens of Arizona, and disenfranchised the deplorables,” he added.
Hobbs emerged victorious after a very tight race with Lake as ballots were still being counted multiple days after Election Day. Lake’s team has been casting doubt on the outcome of the race since it was announced.
Maricopa County, the most populous county in the state, had issues with vote tabulators on Election Day but the problems were quickly resolved and voters who encountered malfunctioning tabulators were able to cast their votes using alternative processes.
On Wednesday, the Kari Lake War Room Twitter account commented that 85 percent of the Arizona election volunteers don’t have faith in the accuracy and honesty of the results.
The former TV personality suggested last week that fraud cost her the election.
“Arizonans know BS when they see it,” Lake tweeted after the outcome was declared by multiple outlets, implying that she was not yet ready to concede. Hobbs secured 50.4 percent — a total of 1,266,922 votes — to Lake’s 49.6 percent — a total of 1,247,428 votes — with 98 percent of the votes counted, according to the Associated Press.
Former president Trump, who endorsed Lake in the Republican primary thanks to her embrace of his stolen election narrative, joined the GOP contender in speculating that the vote-counting process was compromised.
“Wow! They just took the election away from Kari Lake. It’s really bad out there!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.