Kari Lake of Arizona to ‘Paint the State Red,’ Challenge Election Decision.

Arizona Republican Kari Lake is on a mission to “paint the state red” by launching a grassroots “ballot-chasing” operation to boost Republican turnout in future Arizona elections.

“We’re going to start rolling up our sleeves and playing by the same rules [Democrats] play by,” Lake said at a press conference in Phoenix, surrounded by supporters.

Noting that nearly 90 percent of Arizona voters are on the permanent early voter list, Lake explained that her team, led by Strong Communities Action Chairwoman Merissa Hamilton, would be doing everything in their power to sway those voters and “take back” Arizona.

Initiative Details

• Ramping up door-knocking and voter registration efforts
• Assisting voters with getting to the polls
• Contacting every voter to help them get their ballot to where it needs to go
• Registering as many people as possible to vote

“We’re going to turn our state around. We’re going to take it back because this government belongs to ‘we the people,'” Lake declared.

Election Lawsuit

Lake’s new operation comes after an Arizona judge’s decision to toss her lawsuit challenging the results of the state’s 2022 gubernatorial election, which she maintains she rightfully won.

Lake’s initial lawsuit cited several election administration problems in Maricopa County as evidence that the election was fixed, including misprinted ballots, the comingling of counted and uncounted ballots, and a lack of proper signature verification for mail-in ballots.

Although the candidate’s claims were rejected by the lower courts, the Arizona Supreme Court revived a portion of her case in March, finding that the Court of Appeals had erred in its dismissal of her signature verification claims.

Among the claims Lake’s legal team made in arguing her case was that the signatures on hundreds of thousands of Maricopa County ballots were reviewed in less than three seconds by election workers—a fact she said proved they were not properly verified.

“It takes a full second for the ballot image to pop up on the screen,” she noted at her press conference, adding that some workers were approved to verify signatures remotely without any observers present.

While she acknowledged that the latest ruling was not what she was hoping for, she added that she was not giving up the fight.

“There is going to be an appeal. And I’m not prepared to tell you right now exactly what our path is because we are looking at several paths—not one, not two, several. But you’ve not seen the last of our case.”

Political Future

Despite her continued focus on her election challenge, Lake has not ruled out the possibility of running for another office, including the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Sen. Kyrsten Sinema.