Lake has spent the weeks since Democrat Katie Hobbs won the race to be Arizona’s next governor raising concern about the election in Maricopa County. || Gage Skidmore/Flickr
By Stacey Barchenger || The Arizona Republic
Kari Lake’s campaign headquarters were quiet Friday morning, betraying all other indications that the firebrand former gubernatorial candidate and her loyalists are gearing up for a fight.
Lake has spent the weeks since Democrat Katie Hobbs won the race to be Arizona’s next governor raising concern about the election in Maricopa County, gathering and sharing stories of voters who experienced long lines and ballot printer issues on Election Day.
The former television newscaster has made clear in media appearances that her next move will be filing a lawsuit over those issues and what she calls a “botched” Maricopa County election.
That lawsuit is likely to come this week, and it promises future fireworks from a campaign for state office unlike any seen before in Arizona.
As Lake anticipates a legal battle, four of her campaign staffers and advisers offered their reflections on the campaign that at one point seemed on a glide path to victory — but fell just short.
They point to a late-in-the-game shift to focus too narrowly on the playbook written by Donald Trump and on Maricopa County versus pitching Lake’s plans for the future of the state to all Arizonans, namely rural residents and swing voters.
Now multiple former aides, outside consultants and even leaders of Hobbs’ campaign acknowledge that had Lake stuck to slightly more traditional advice, Arizona’s next governor might be a Republican and not a Democrat.
“I blame the campaign for Kari’s loss, not fraud,” said Ed Morabito, a former Lake adviser. “She was poorly served by advisers who had no idea what they were doing. We never fully welcomed moderate voters, and the anti-McCain and Trump nonsense killed us.”
