Most Talked-About Controversies Linked to Kari Lake

Controversies are a part of history. Explore the biggest scandals linked to Kari Lake.

Kari Lake is an American political figure and former television news anchor. She was the Republican nominee for Arizona governor in 2022 and for the U.S. Senate in 2024, unsuccessfully in both attempts. Since 2025, she has served as a special advisor to the United States Agency for Global Media under President Donald Trump.

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Full Timeline Early Life & Education Career & Achievements Challenges & Struggles Controversies & Scandals

2015: Lake supported gender transition

In 2015, Kari Lake stated on social media that she supported an adult's and young person's right to gender transition, but later reversed that position.

2017: Posted Meme on Facebook

Nine days before the 2017 inauguration of Donald Trump, Kari Lake posted a meme on Facebook that declared the inauguration a "national day of mourning and protest", in which she asked her followers how they would react to Trump's inauguration.

2018: Opposition to Red for Ed Movement

In 2018, Kari Lake opposed the Red for Ed movement, which sought more funding for education, claiming that the movement was a "big push to legalize pot". She later apologized and took a month-long leave from KSAZ-TV.

July 2019: Promotion of Parler Account

In July 2019, Kari Lake was caught on "hot mic" footage promoting her account on the web platform Parler.

April 2020: Sharing COVID-19 Misinformation

In April 2020, Kari Lake shared COVID-19 misinformation on Twitter and Facebook.

2020: Promotion of False Election Claims

During her campaign, in 2020 Kari Lake promoted false claims of Donald Trump winning the 2020 presidential election and called for the imprisonment of those who accepted Trump's defeat.

2020: Voter signatures posted on Twitter

In January 2023, Lake posted on Twitter voter signatures, mostly from 2020, suggesting that these were from illegal ballots because the signatures did not match. Arizona law states that "records containing a voter's signature ... shall not be ... reproduced by any person other than the voter", with the exception of those working for the county recorder.

2020: Attended Events Headed by Mike Lindell

Kari Lake attended events headed by My Pillow founder Mike Lindell, a prominent promoter of false claims regarding fraud in the 2020 election.

2020: Claimed Arizona Was Won by Trump

Kari Lake claimed that in 2020 President Joe Biden did not receive 81 million votes and that Arizona (which was won by Biden in the 2020 presidential election) was actually won by Trump.

August 2021: Anti-Mask Rallies

In August 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Kari Lake led anti-mask rallies, calling on Arizona State University students to go against the university's mask mandates.

November 2021: Hydroxychloroquine Use and Mandate Opposition

In November 2021, Kari Lake told a group of Republican retirees that she was taking hydroxychloroquine to prevent COVID-19 infection and stated that as governor, she would not tolerate mask and vaccine mandates.

2021: Demanded Election Decertification

After the 2021 Maricopa County presidential ballot audit found no evidence of election fraud, Kari Lake demanded the election be "decertified".

2021: Said She Would Not Have Certified Biden's Victory

During her 2021 campaign for governor, Kari Lake said that she would not have certified Biden's 2020 election victory in Arizona if she had been governor at the time.

April 2022: Lake and Finchem sue to ban electronic voting machines

In April 2022, Lake and Mark Finchem sued state officials, seeking to ban electronic voting machines from being used in her 2022 election.

June 2022: Continued Baseless Claims of Stolen Election

During a June 2022 debate among candidates for the Republican nomination, Kari Lake continued to make baseless claims that the 2020 presidential election was "stolen" and "corrupt".

June 2022: Lake praises Supreme Court decision on abortion

In June 2022, Kari Lake praised the Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, which overturned Roe v. Wade.

July 2022: Fox News Report on Inauguration Meme

In July 2022, Fox News reported that nine days before the 2017 inauguration of Donald Trump, Kari Lake had posted a meme on Facebook that declared the inauguration a "national day of mourning and protest".

August 2022: Suit to ban electronic voting machines dismissed

In August 2022, U.S. District Judge John Tuchi dismissed the suit, writing that Lake and Finchem "articulated only conjectural allegations of potential injuries" and thus lacked standing. In his ruling, Tuchi also cited the Eleventh Amendment to the United States Constitution, as well as the Purcell principle.

October 2022: Appeal to ban electronic voting machines rejected

In October 2022, Finchem and Lake's appeal, aimed at banning electronic voting machines, was rejected by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

October 2022: Refusal to Commit to Accepting Election Results

In October 2022, Kari Lake twice refused to say that she would accept the result if she lost the election, stating, "I'm going to win the election, and I will accept that result."

November 7, 2022: Suspicious Powder Incident

On November 7, 2022, Kari Lake's campaign stated that on November 6, a campaign staffer "opened an envelope delivered to our campaign office that contained suspicious white powder."

November 14, 2022: Narrow Loss Projection

On November 14, 2022, multiple media outlets projected that Kari Lake had narrowly lost the gubernatorial election to Katie Hobbs. Lake responded by tweeting, "Arizonans know BS when they see it."

December 9, 2022: Lake files suit seeking to overturn election results

On December 9, 2022, after Arizona certified the election results, Lake filed a new suit in state court, seeking a court order to either overturn Hobbs' victory and declare Lake as the winner of the election, or redo the election in Maricopa County. Lake's complaint alleged that there were hundreds of thousands of illegal votes in the election, but provided no evidence in support of these claims.

December 2022: Lake's lawyers sanctioned for false assertions

In December 2022, Judge Tuchi sanctioned Lake's lawyers, including Alan Dershowitz, for making "false, misleading, and unsupported" assertions during the case, and making claims without "an adequate factual or legal basis grounded in a reasonable pre-filing inquiry"; he ordered the plaintiffs to pay the defendants' attorney fees, set to be roughly $122,000.

December 2022: Lake identifies as "proud election denying deplorable"

In December 2022, Kari Lake self-identified as a "proud election denying deplorable."

2022: Investigation into 2022 election's printing problems

In April 2023, an independent investigation into the 2022 election's printing problems, led by Ruth McGregor, was published, concluding that equipment failure was the primary cause and there was no clear indication the problems should have been anticipated. Two-thirds of vote centers reported no issues and approximately 94 percent of election day ballots were not faulty.

2022: Lake questioned about claims of stolen election

In February 2024, Lake was questioned about her claims regarding the 2022 gubernatorial election, stating, "I don't know who exactly stole the election, but there are a lot of people who are running elections poorly, and we've seen the results."

2022: False claim about voting attempts

In January 2023, Lake posted a false claim that almost 250,000 voting attempts failed during the 2022 Arizona elections, without proving that the votes were not counted; during the elections, votes that could not be initially scanned were later counted at another location.

2022: Richer alleges Lake sabotaged the election

In June 2023, Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer sued Lake for defamation, alleging that Lake had repeatedly accused him of intentionally sabotaging the 2022 election, which caused threats against him and his family and resulted in him being ostracized from Republican donors and networks.

2022: Lake's loss and legal challenge

In November 2024, the Arizona Supreme Court declined to hear Lake's appeal, ensuring that the lower courts' rulings were maintained, which ended Lake's legal challenge against the 2022 result.

January 2023: Analysis of Arizona election data

In January 2023, the Audit Guys released an analysis stating that over 33,000 Republican voters in Maricopa County voted for Hobbs instead of Lake, and nearly 6,000 Republican-leaning voters did not vote in the gubernatorial election, which could have changed the result had they voted for Lake. The analysis also found that Lake received fewer than 6,000 votes from Democrat-leaning voters.

January 2023: Lake posts voter signatures on Twitter

Later in January 2023, Lake posted on Twitter 16 voter signatures, mostly from 2020, suggesting that these were from illegal ballots because the signatures did not match; Arizona law states that "records containing a voter's signature ... shall not be ... reproduced by any person other than the voter", with the exception of those working for the county recorder. She also posted a false claim that almost 250,000 voting attempts failed during the 2022 Arizona elections, without proving that the votes were not counted; during the elections, votes that could not be initially scanned were later counted at another location.

January 2023: Lawyers paid less than 10% of funds

The Arizona Mirror found in January 2023 that less than 10% of the funds raised by Lake after the election were paid to lawyers, despite Lake claiming that the funds were meant for contesting election results.

February 2023: Remarks on Republican Candidates

In February 2023, Kari Lake stated that if elections were really fair, she believed the ranks of Congress, the Senate, a White House, and all the state governorships would be Republican.

February 2023: Associated Press survey on Arizona voters

In February 2023, the Associated Press reported results from a survey of over 3,200 voters, estimating that 11% of Arizona Republicans voted for Hobbs, while 4% of Arizona Democrats voted for Lake.

February 16, 2023: Lake's appeal rejected by Arizona Court of Appeals

On February 16, 2023, a three-judge panel of the Arizona Court of Appeals unanimously rejected Lake's appeal. The court cited a lack of evidence supporting Lake's claims about long lines at voting centers and voters being unable to vote.

March 2023: Recording of Lake and DeWit conversation published

In March 2023, a recording of a conversation between Kari Lake and Jeff DeWit was released, where DeWit suggested Lake take a "pause" from the 2024 Arizona Senate race, offering financial incentives, which Lake rejected.

March 22, 2023: Arizona Supreme Court denies Lake's request to hear lawsuit

On March 22, 2023, the Arizona Supreme Court denied Lake's request to hear her lawsuit, ruling that the lower courts had correctly dismissed six of Lake's seven legal claims. For Lake's remaining legal claim (on signature verification), the Arizona Supreme Court ruled that the lower courts incorrectly interpreted her challenge as pertaining to signature verification policies themselves, instead of the application of such policies, and remanded (sent back) the remaining claim to the trial court.

April 2023: Lake sues Maricopa County Recorder

In April 2023, Kari Lake initiated a lawsuit against Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer, seeking the release of 1.3 million ballot affidavit envelopes containing voter information.

April 2023: Independent investigation into election printing problems published

May 2023: Arizona Supreme Court sanctions Lake's lawyers

In May 2023, the Arizona Supreme Court ruled that it was employing "the extraordinary remedy of a sanction" on Lake's lawyers, imposing a $2,000 fine on them for making "false factual statements to the Court". Lake's lawyers had falsely claimed in legal filings that it was an "undisputed fact that 35,563 unaccounted for ballots were added to the total of ballots [at] a third party processing facility; in imposing its sanction, the Arizona Supreme Court stated that "no evidence" supported the claim that 35,563 ballots were added, and that Lake's claim had been disputed by the other side, making the claim of an "undisputed" fact "unequivocally false".

May 22, 2023: Judge rules against Lake on final claim

After a three-day trial, on May 22, 2023, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Peter Thompson ruled against Lake for her remaining claim on signature verification, re-affirming Hobbs' election. Thompson wrote that Lake had not provided "clear and convincing evidence or a preponderance of evidence" of misconduct in the election. Lake was not sanctioned by Thompson for her final claim, as he ruled that while there was no clear or convincing evidence for this claim, it was not necessarily "groundless".

June 2023: Richer sues Lake for defamation

July 2023: Arizona Supreme Court denies Lake's motion to appeal directly

During Lake's appeal of Thompson's ruling against her final claim, she tried to appeal directly to the Arizona Supreme Court, which denied her motion to do so in July 2023, citing "no good cause" for Lake to skip appealing to the Arizona Court of Appeals.

September 2023: Trial in lawsuit against Maricopa County Recorder

In September 2023, the trial was held for Kari Lake's lawsuit against Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer regarding the release of ballot affidavit envelopes.

November 2023: Lake reaffirms support for 1864 abortion ban

In November 2023, Kari Lake reaffirmed her support for the 1864 abortion ban.

November 2023: Court rules against Lake in lawsuit

In November 2023, the Maricopa County Superior Court Judge John Hannah ruled against Kari Lake in her lawsuit seeking to compel the release of ballot affidavit envelopes, citing risks of voter fraud and harassment.

December 2023: Lake's motion to dismiss defamation suit denied

In December 2023, a Maricopa County judge denied Lake's motion to dismiss the defamation suit, ruling that Lake's statements were not "rhetorical hyperbole" and would not be protected by the First Amendment if proven false.

January 2024: Lake calls for Jeff DeWit's resignation

In January 2024, Kari Lake publicly demanded the resignation of Arizona Republican Party chair Jeff DeWit, labeling him "corrupt and compromised," leading to his resignation the following day.

February 2024: Lake questioned about claims of stolen election

March 2024: Appeal to Supreme Court regarding electronic voting machines

In March 2024, Finchem and Lake appealed to the United States Supreme Court, seeking to ban electronic voting machines.

March 2024: Lake abandons appeal in lawsuit

In March 2024, Kari Lake abandoned her appeal of Judge Hannah's ruling against her in the lawsuit concerning Maricopa County ballot affidavit envelopes.

March 2024: Lake denounces 1864 anti-abortion law

In March 2024, Kari Lake denounced the 1864 anti-abortion law and shifted her position on abortion, supporting Arizona's abortion restriction after 15 weeks.

March 2024: Lake requests hearing for default judgement against herself

In March 2024, Lake requested a hearing for a default judgment against herself in the defamation case, deciding not to contest the defamation claim, and asking for the trial to proceed to the amount of damages she would have to pay Richer. Judge Adleman ruled that Lake could no longer claim in court that she had not defamed Richer.

April 11, 2024: Lake calls for legislative solution to abortion law

On April 11, 2024, after the Arizona Supreme Court favored enforcing the 1864 territorial law on abortion, Kari Lake urged Arizonan legislators to find a common-sense solution, calling abortion a personal issue.

April 2024: Supreme Court rejects lawsuit regarding electronic voting machines

In April 2024, the United States Supreme Court rejected Finchem and Lake's lawsuit regarding electronic voting machines.

April 20, 2024: Lake returns to supporting 1864 abortion law

On April 20, 2024, Kari Lake reverted to her earlier position of supporting the 1864 abortion law after officials indicated they would not prosecute offenders of the law.

June 2024: Ninth Circuit denies appeal to ban electronic voting machines

In June 2024, Finchem and Lake appealed again to the Ninth Circuit, which tersely denied the appeal.

June 2024: Lake's appeal rejected by Arizona Court of Appeals

Lake's appeal was rejected by the Arizona Court of Appeals in June 2024, with Judge Sean Brearcliffe stating that Lake had claimed "8,000 uncounted votes", but this could not overcome her loss margin of over 17,000 votes to Hobbs, and while Lake claimed she had new evidence to present, Brearcliffe found that she already possessed the evidence previously, but did not "analyze" it.

July 2024: Lake appeals to Arizona Supreme Court

Lake appealed to the Arizona Supreme Court in July 2024 after her appeal was rejected by the Arizona Court of Appeals in June 2024.

November 2024: Arizona Supreme Court declines to hear Lake's appeal

In November 2024, the Arizona Supreme Court declined to hear Lake's appeal, ensuring that the lower courts' rulings were maintained, which ended Lake's legal challenge against the 2022 result.

November 2024: Lake and Richer settle defamation case

In November 2024, the court stated that Lake and Richer had settled the defamation case.

2024: Appeals rejected in defamation case

In 2024, the Arizona Court of Appeals and the Arizona Supreme Court both rejected Lake's appeal, clearing the way for a trial in the defamation case filed by Stephen Richer.