As U.S. Senate Primary Nears End, Kari Lake Intensifies Push for Arizona Governorship

Less than three weeks before the Arizona GOP primary for the U.S. Senate, Kari Lake has filed another appeal with the Arizona Supreme Court. Lake is seeking to overturn her 2022 gubernatorial election loss and be declared the rightful governor.

“The 2022 election was irredeemably flawed,” Jennifer Wright, Lake’s attorney, stated in the appeal. “Without this Court’s intervention, future elections remain threatened.”

Lake is considered the leading contender in the GOP Senate primary, facing off against Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb. The primary winner will battle Democratic Congressman Ruben Gallego in November.

Following the appeal, two left-leaning organizations filed ethical complaints against Lake’s attorney, Kurt Olsen, with the Maryland Attorney Grievance Commission and the District of Columbia’s Office of Disciplinary Counsel. They accuse Olsen of spreading election falsehoods and violating ethical standards.

Olsen, primarily a Washington D.C. employment attorney, faces disciplinary action in Arizona for making false claims to the state Supreme Court along with Scottsdale lawyer Bryan Blehm. They falsely asserted that 35,000 illegal ballots were part of Maricopa County’s 2022 vote count.

The new complaint by States United Democracy Center and Lawyers Defending American Democracy targets Olsen for his role in Lake’s election challenges and his involvement in Texas v. Pennsylvania, which sought to prevent states from certifying their 2020 election results.

Lake lost the gubernatorial race to Democrat Katie Hobbs and has been challenging the election outcome in court. Both Olsen and Blehm have been sanctioned by the Arizona Supreme Court for their false statements, with Blehm’s law license suspended for 60 days starting July 7. Olsen, licensed in Maryland, may face a formal reprimand.

In her latest appeal, Lake reiterates previously dismissed arguments, such as the claim that Maricopa County did not conduct required logic and accuracy tests on ballot tabulators in 2022. County officials have consistently denied these claims.

Lake insists Maricopa County’s tabulators “failed on a massive scale” on Election Day 2022, though county officials confirmed all 16,000 rejected ballots were eventually counted.

Wright argues that proper logic and accuracy testing would have prevented the tabulator issues. She also repeats a claim from Lake’s unsuccessful May 2023 trial that voter signature verification was done too quickly.

“Lake objected to the 275,000+ ballots verified in under three seconds, asserting it was too quick for genuine signature verification,” Wright wrote.

However, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Peter Thompson ruled that state law does not specify how long signatures should be compared, only that the comparison must occur. The Arizona Court of Appeals upheld Thompson’s ruling.

In her appeal, Lake urges the Arizona Supreme Court to either invalidate the 2022 election results or discard the 275,000 ballots she alleges were inadequately verified, and declare her the winner.

In the ethical complaint against Olsen, States United and LDAD call for a prompt investigation and immediate interim discipline, citing his ongoing unethical behavior as a risk to the public.

“Kurt Olsen has abused his law license to spread lies about our elections, and his pattern of unethical conduct demonstrates he won’t stop,” Gillian Feiner, senior counsel at States United Democracy Center, asserted. “Olsen must be held accountable to protect the public, the courts, and our democracy from further damage.”