An Arizona judge rejected the final lawsuit brought by Republican Kari Lake, affirming Democrat Katie Hobbs won the 2022 election for governor.
In a ruling Monday evening after a three-day trial last week, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Peter Thompson found Lake’s team did not present “clear and convincing evidence or a preponderance of evidence” that misconduct was committed in the 2022 Arizona election.
Lake, who has amplified former President Donald Trump’s lies about the 2020 election, has continued spreading falsehoods after the 2022 gubernatorial election, denying that Hobbs defeated her by approximately 17,000 votes.
Arizona was a key battleground for governor and Senate in 2022, and likely will be again for president in 2024. The former news anchor at Fox 10 in Phoenix was one of the most prominent candidates in the 2022 cycle as she and Hobbs vied to replace term-limited Republican Gov. Doug Ducey.
Maricopa County Chairman Clint Hickman called the ruling “justice.”
“Wild claims of rigged elections may generate media attention and fundraising please, but they do not win court cases,” Hickman said in a statement. “When ‘bombshells’ and ‘smoking guns’ are not backed up by facts, they fail in court.”
Lake did not comment on the ruling, other than posting a gif on Twitter reading, “Fix this broken system.”
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