Kari Lake demands Maricopa election officials be 'locked up', continues to deny election loss

Heather Hamilton

December 19, 07:51 AM December 19, 07:51 AM

Defeated Arizona Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake called for the election officials of Arizona’s Maricopa County to be “locked up” as she continues to deny last month's election result.

While speaking at Turning Point USA’s America Fest in Phoenix on Sunday, Lake defended her denial of the midterm election results that saw her lose to Democrat Katie Hobbs.

“These people are crooks, they need to be locked up,” Lake said of the Maricopa County election officials.

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Lake said she identifies as a “proud election-denying deplorable.”

She also accused the media of attacking former President Donald Trump, saying they "want to drag him through the mud". The defeated Lake then performed a crude gesture to members of the media in attendance.

On Thursday, a Maricopa County judge approved Lake’s requests to inspect some ballots before the trial in her challenge to the Arizona gubernatorial race results, claiming that "if the process was illegitimate then so are the results." It came after Lake brought forth a civil complaint earlier this month to overturn her election defeat and declare her the winner.

Lake was defeated by Hobbs 1,287,891 votes to 1,270,774, according to the certified results of the election. She has trafficked in claims that the 2020 election was stolen from former President Donald Trump.