Kari Lake’s Last-Minute Senate Push: Will the Ex-Governor Candidate Triumph?

Less than three weeks before hoping to secure the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate, Kari Lake continues her battle to overturn the results of her 2022 gubernatorial election. Lake has once again approached the Arizona Supreme Court, seeking to be declared governor, challenging her election loss to Democrat Katie Hobbs.

“The 2022 election was irredeemably flawed,” stated Jennifer Wright, one of Lake’s attorneys, in a recently filed appeal. Wright contends that without the Court’s intervention, future elections remain at risk.

Lake, a leading candidate in the GOP Senate primary, faces Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb. The winner will challenge Democratic Congressman Ruben Gallego in the November elections.

Within a day of Lake’s appeal, ethical complaints emerged against her attorney, Kurt Olsen, filed by two left-leaning groups. These groups accused Olsen of spreading election falsehoods and violating ethical standards. The complaints were submitted to both the Maryland Attorney Grievance Commission and the District of Columbia’s Office of Disciplinary Counsel.

Olsen, based in Washington D.C., is already under scrutiny in Arizona. He falsely claimed 35,000 illegal ballots were counted in Maricopa County’s final tally in 2022. Both Olsen and Scottsdale attorney Bryan Blehm have faced sanctions from the Arizona Supreme Court for these statements.

The new complaints, lodged by States United Democracy Center and Lawyers Defending American Democracy, criticize Olsen’s representation of Lake in election disputes and his involvement in Texas v. Pennsylvania, an unsuccessful attempt to prevent several states from certifying their 2020 election results.

The presumptive GOP Senate nominee, Lake, continues to challenge the 2022 results, alleging significant flaws in Maricopa County’s ballot tabulation process. Though County officials deny these claims, Lake insists the tabulators failed massively.

Wright argues that proper logic and accuracy testing would have prevented these issues. She also claims that the quick approval of over 275,000 ballots prevented genuine signature verification.

Judge Peter Thompson previously ruled that state law does not specify a required length of time for signature comparison, only that signatures are to be compared. Earlier this year, the Arizona Court of Appeals upheld Thompson’s decisions, emphasizing that the appellate courts judge legal interpretations, not facts.

Lake’s appeal to the Arizona Supreme Court requests either to invalidate the 2022 election results or to nullify the questioned 275,000 ballots, declaring her the victor. Meanwhile, the new ethics complaint demands a swift investigation into Olsen’s actions and calls for immediate discipline, citing ongoing unethical behavior.

“Kurt Olsen has abused his law license to spread lies about our elections,” stated Gillian Feiner, senior counsel at the States United Democracy Center. “To protect the public, the courts, and our democracy, Olsen must be held accountable for his professional misconduct.”