The Kari Lake election lawsuit challenging her 2022 loss in the Arizona governor’s race failed at every level of the state’s courts, with seven separate rulings against her before the Arizona Supreme Court denied her final appeal on November 6, 2024.1Arizona Capitol Times. Arizona Supreme Court Blocks Kari Lake’s Final Appeal to Overturn 2022 Governor’s Race Along the way, two of her lawyers were disciplined for false statements to the court, a related federal case she backed was declared frivolous and drew $122,000 in sanctions, and a defamation suit filed against her by a Maricopa County election official ended in a confidential settlement after she declined to contest that her accusations were false.
Lake lost the November 8, 2022, general election to Democrat Katie Hobbs by 17,117 votes. She filed her election contest on December 9, 2022, in Maricopa County Superior Court as Case No. CV2022-095403, assigned to Judge Peter A. Thompson.2States United Democracy Center. Lake v. Hobbs Election
What Lake Claimed
Her ten-count complaint reduced to three theories, each of which she said had swung enough votes to change a race decided by roughly 17,000 ballots.
The first theory focused on Election Day printer and tabulator failures. Ballot-on-demand printers at about 70 of Maricopa County’s 229 voting centers produced ballots too faintly printed for on-site tabulators to read. Lake alleged the failures were intentional and cited a cybersecurity expert who estimated that between 15,600 and 29,300 Republican voters had been disenfranchised because Republicans vote in person at higher rates.3Democracy Docket. Kari Lake Complaint, CV2022-095403
The second theory alleged chain-of-custody failures at a third-party ballot-processing facility. Lake pointed to a gap between the county’s initial estimate of Election Day early ballots (over 275,000) and the final count (291,890) and submitted an affidavit from a vendor employee who said he saw 50 ballots inserted into batches at the off-site facility.4Arizona Court of Appeals. Lake v. Hobbs, No. 1 CA-CV 22-0779
The third theory attacked mail-in ballot signature verification. Lake’s expert, Eric Speckin, testified that more than 321,000 signature envelopes had been verified in three seconds or less, and roughly 70,000 in under two seconds, with top reviewers approving 100 percent of what they saw.5Arizona Daily Star. Kari Lake Signature Verification Trial
How the Arizona Courts Ruled
Judge Thompson dismissed eight of the ten counts on December 19, 2022, and held a two-day bench trial on the printer and chain-of-custody claims. On December 24 he ruled against Lake on both. He found the printer issues were “mechanical malfunctions that were ultimately remedied” and that Lake’s disenfranchisement estimate rested on “sheer speculation.” On chain of custody, he found that even if the 50 ballots described in the vendor affidavit were fraudulent, that number was “orders of magnitude short of having any plausible effect on the outcome.” He applied the higher “clear and convincing evidence” standard, citing the public policy favoring finality of election results and Arizona’s election-contest statute, A.R.S. § 16-672, which requires a showing that votes were affected in numbers sufficient to alter the outcome.4Arizona Court of Appeals. Lake v. Hobbs, No. 1 CA-CV 22-0779
The Arizona Court of Appeals affirmed on February 16, 2023. It noted that one of Lake’s own witnesses confirmed unreadable ballots could still be counted at the county elections department and called the disenfranchisement estimate “baseless.”6KCRA. Kari Lake Loses Appeal in Arizona Governor Race
On March 22, 2023, the Arizona Supreme Court affirmed dismissal of six of the seven remaining counts but revived the signature-verification claim, ruling that Lake was not challenging the verification procedure itself but alleging Maricopa County had failed to follow its own rules. The claim went back to Judge Thompson for a new trial.7Arizona Mirror. Supreme Court Dismisses All but One of Kari Lake’s Election Claims
After a three-day trial, Judge Thompson dismissed the signature claim on May 22, 2023. He found the county had shown “clear and convincing” compliance with the law, noted that Arizona law imposes no minimum time for a signature check, and wrote that Lake “failed to prove misconduct by county election officials.”8Arizona Mirror. Kari Lake Loses Trial to Overturn the Election Again
The Court of Appeals affirmed again in June 2024, concluding Lake’s arguments could not overcome the 17,000-vote margin.9Democracy Docket. Arizona Court of Appeals Rejects Kari Lake’s 2022 Election Contest Again Her attorney Jennifer Wright then petitioned the Arizona Supreme Court, adding an argument that the county had skipped required logic-and-accuracy tests on tabulators. The county responded that the “unannounced testing” Lake described was the routine installation of memory cards containing the certified election program, done in view of livestreaming cameras.10Arizona Courts. Maricopa County Defendants’ Response to Petition for Review The Arizona Supreme Court denied the petition without comment on November 6, 2024, exhausting Lake’s options.11Arizona Mirror. AZ Supreme Court Rejects Kari Lake’s Last Remaining Bid to Overturn Her 2022 Loss
Attorney Sanctions and Suspensions
On May 4, 2023, the Arizona Supreme Court ordered Lake’s attorneys to pay $2,000 jointly for asserting as “undisputed fact” that 35,563 ballots had been illegally inserted into the count at a third-party facility. The court called the assertion “unequivocally false” and emphasized the “duty of candor to the tribunal.”12Arizona Courts. Lake v. Hobbs, Arizona Supreme Court Sanctions Order
Scottsdale attorney Bryan Blehm, who filed that claim, was suspended by an Arizona disciplinary panel in June 2024 for 60 days, followed by a year of probation, five hours of ethics continuing education, and reimbursement of the State Bar’s costs. The panel found he had “violated core ethical duties owed to the legal system” and “steadfastly refused to acknowledge any misconduct.” The Nevada Supreme Court imposed a reciprocal 60-day suspension in January 2025.13KJZZ. Kari Lake’s Attorney Suspended for Lying to Arizona Supreme Court14FindLaw. In Re Discipline of Blehm, Nevada Supreme Court
Kurt Olsen, a Washington, D.C.-based attorney licensed in Maryland who co-signed the false ballot claim, was formally admonished by an Arizona Supreme Court panel in October 2024. Because he is not licensed in Arizona, admonishment was the maximum penalty available.11Arizona Mirror. AZ Supreme Court Rejects Kari Lake’s Last Remaining Bid to Overturn Her 2022 Loss
The Separate Federal Voting Machines Case
Before the 2022 election, Lake and then-secretary of state candidate Mark Finchem filed a federal suit seeking to ban electronic voting machines across Arizona. U.S. District Judge John Tuchi dismissed it in August 2022, calling the claims “vague,” “speculative,” and “conjectural,” and sanctioned attorneys Andrew Parker and Kurt Olsen $122,000 for a “frivolous complaint.”15Arizona Mirror. Ethical Complaints Against Attorneys Representing Kari Lake Dismissed
The Ninth Circuit affirmed. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case on April 22, 2024, and a final procedural motion was denied on June 20, 2024.16Democracy Docket. US Supreme Court Will Not Hear Kari Lake’s Fringe Voting Machines Case In March 2025, the Ninth Circuit confirmed Parker and Olsen remained on the hook for the $122,000.17Arizona Capitol Times. Attorneys in 2022 GOP Election Fraud Case to Pay $122,000 for Frivolous Legal Challenge Separate State Bar ethics complaints against Parker and Olsen were dismissed in August 2024 for lack of clear and convincing evidence; the Bar appealed.18Tucson Sentinel. AZ State Bar Plans Appeal of Dismissal of Ethics Charges Against Attorneys for Lake, Finchem
The Richer Defamation Case
In June 2023, Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer sued Lake, her campaign, and the Save Arizona Fund for defamation, alleging she had falsely accused him of being responsible for 300,000 “illegal, invalid, phony or bogus” early ballots and of sabotaging the 2022 election. Richer sought damages for home security costs, reputational and mental-health harm, and punitive damages.19NBC News. Stephen Richer Defamation Case Against Kari Lake Settled
In March 2024, the court entered a default against Lake after she declined to contest liability, legally establishing that her claims about Richer were false. The parties reached a confidential settlement and confirmed it on November 17, 2024. Lake’s attorney Dennis Wilenchik said he was “pleased” with the resolution; Richer’s legal team said the matter “was resolved to the satisfaction of both parties.”20Arizona Mirror. Kari Lake Settles Defamation Suit With Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer21KTAR. Defamation Lawsuit Kari Lake Settlement
Where Things Stand
With the November 6, 2024, denial by the Arizona Supreme Court, every judicial avenue Lake pursued to overturn her 2022 loss has closed. The related federal voting-machines case is likewise final, with the sanctions against her attorneys intact. The defamation case brought by Richer is resolved, and the default entered against Lake stands as a legal finding that her statements about him were false.
Lake later ran for U.S. Senate in Arizona in 2024 and lost to Democrat Ruben Gallego by more than 80,000 votes. She did not formally concede. In a September 2025 deposition, she acknowledged under questioning that the Senate race “was confirmed for Ruben Gallego” and “certified.”22AZPM. This Time Under Oath, Kari Lake Refuses to Concede Losses in Elections for Governor and Senate in Arizona23NPR. Arizona Senate Gallego Lake