Kari Lake has conceded she lost her bid for the U.S. Senate. Sort of.
In a 2-and-a-half-minute video posted Wednesday evening on X, the GOP contender thanked her supporters who she said have been with her from the time she announced her run for governor in 2021 and lost that race to Katie Hobbs through the 2024 campaign against Democratic Senator-elect Ruben Gallego.
"And you never wavered," Lake said. "I can't thank you enough for that. It was a movement of love for family, for Arizona and for America."
She does not actually admit that the latest ballot count has her behind by more than 73,000 votes. While there still were more than 99,000 to be tallied, almost half of them were in Pima County, where Gallego is outpolling her by a 3-2 margin.
Her only acknowledgment that there actually had been an election was Lake saying how glad she was that Donald Trump was elected president and that voters put the House and Senate into Republican hands, paving the way for the new chief executive to implement his plans.
Yet there was a hint of what has been Lake's go-to position since losing the 2022 governor's race, saying that the new administration will ensure a secure border, a prosperous economy, safe streets "and free and fair elections."
"And I know more than anything that this administration will fight to deliver that for you,'' Lake said.
Lake gave no hint as to what is next for her other than "I will never stop fighting for the state I love."
As nebulous as is her video, it is far more of an acknowledgment she lost than what occurred after the 2022 election when Lake insisted there was fraud and cheating. But not a single judge found any evidence to support that claim. And the case only ended a week ago when the Arizona Supreme Court rejected her final appeal.
One thing that may have made a difference is the 73,000-vote margin of this loss out of about 3.3 million ballots cast in the race. By contrast, Lake fell behind Democrat Katie Hobbs two years ago by just 17,117 votes.
Lake gathered more of the votes that were cast on Election Day than Gallego. But that edge was wiped out by Gallego already having votes in the bank, outpolling her among early voters by more than 156,000. By contrast, Trump ran ahead of Harris in Arizona in both early voting and those who voted in person.
-
Find everything you need to know about elections in Arizona and Maricopa County from KJZZ's politics team. -
Two third-party candidates who are under an investigation by the Arizona Citizens Clean Elections Commission that could force them to pay back millions in public funding have filed a lawsuit challenging the commission’s power to claw back the money. -
More than 900 thousand voters registered in Maricopa County have no party affiliation, a larger group than either Democrats or Republicans. -
Republican Congressman Juan Ciscomani and Democrat Joanna Mendoza sparred over the direction of the country under the second Trump administration as they made their pitch to voters in Arizona’s Congressional District 6, one of just a few competitive districts that could determine which party controls Congress next year. -
Democrat hopefuls Jonathon Hill and Clara Pratte accused Republican incumbent Kevin Thompson for out-of-control data center development and rising utility bills.
