The failed Arizona gubernatorial candidate, Kari Lake, and secretary of state candidate, Mark Finchern, want their lawsuit seeking to ban electronic voting machines to be heard by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
In the wake of Lake’s disastrous showing in the Arizona gubernatorial race, Lake decided to take up former President Donald J. Trump’s preferred excuse for losing an election—that the race was stolen by unseen forces inimical to Kari Lake’s political success.
Even if that were true, though, there’s no way to prove that under present conditions.
Nevertheless, Lake, who is both desperate to remain relevant after having lost her bid to become governor and who is seeking to be made Donald Trump’s running-mate in 2024 (highly unlikely), needs to stay in the spotlight. What’s more, she needs to be seen as furthering a cause near and dear to former President Trump’s heart: proving that elections in the United States—notably in the key state of Arizona that Trump unexpectedly lost in 2020—can be stolen.
Lake and Finchern want the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to reopen the lawsuit that was recently thrown out because they think their argument is strong. Whereas those opposed to the Lake-Finchern lawsuit argue, as did the Arizona court by the way, that Kari Lake and Mark Finchern lacked standing, Lake-Finchern countered that they were not arguing that hacking did take place in either the 2020 or 2022 elections.
Instead, they insist that their case rested on proving the mere possibility that hacking could have taken place. Therefore, according to Lake-Finchern, the state of Arizona was obligated to ban electronic voting.
Why the Lawsuit was Dismissed
The reason that the Arizona court threw out the Lake-Finchern lawsuit, however, was because they did not have standing.
Specifically, the Arizona court could not support hearing a lawsuit because, as the presiding judge had explained in August, neither Lake nor Finchern could prove that any injury had been visited upon them, thanks to the use of electronic voting machines in the 2022 election that Kari Lake had lost.
For Lake and Finchern to have proven injury, as the district judge explained, “a long chain of hypothetical contingencies must take place for any harm to occur.”
The judge continued that, even if Lake and Finchern did have standing, “they do not plausibly allege a violation of federal law” in their suit that has since been thrown out. What’s more, the Lake-Finchern plan of having their lawsuit revivified in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals is strange, considering that the Ninth Circuit is notoriously Liberal. These two are waging a hopeless battle.
Although, I suspect that they know that and are pressing on, regardless.
This is not because they believe in what they’re doing. No, it’s because Kari Lake is desperate to remain relevant after being thoroughly humiliated in the 2022 election. She is now apparently going to run for the Senate. It is likely part of a larger scheme on Lake’s part to remain firmly ensconced in the mind of former President Trump, as she (and most everyone else) assumes that Trump will again be made the GOP presidential nominee in 2024.
If that’s the case, Lake seeks to ultimately become the vice-presidential pick. Therefore, she must continue to be in the media spotlight and be seen as a fighter, lest Trump lose even more interest in her than he already has.
Did Kari Lake Have a Hand in Kristi Noem’s Bad Week?
Rumors abound, for example, that someone close to Lake’s camp may have leaked a damaging story about South Dakota’s Republican Governor Kristi Noem who, just recently, endorsed Trump, and has been rumored to be on Trump’s shortlist for possible VP picks.
The damaging story was about an alleged affair between Noem and former Trump campaign adviser, Corey Lewandowski (himself a gonzo figure of the far right).
While Lake’s involvement in propagating this story to the press remains unconfirmed, given how desperate Lake is to remain in Trump’s good graces so that she could become his number two in 2024, it makes sense that she or someone close to her might have leaked such scandalous news about a possible rival, like Noem.
Kari Lake is a failure.
She lost what should have been a slam-dunk gubernatorial race, not because there was the possibility of hacking of Maricopa County, Arizona electronic voting machines, but because Arizona voters were tired of her schtick.
She squandered her reputation as a straight-shooting public figure that had been hard-won through Emmy award-winning reporting while she worked as a beloved local news anchor in Phoenix by embracing the fringiest conspiracy theories imaginable.
Perhaps she is right and there was the possibility of electronic vote stealing. She was utterly incapable of proving it. Rather than focus on the future, like her apparent idol, Donald Trump, she chose to relitigate the past.
Because of that, Kari Lake lost what should have been an easy victory to become Arizona’s next governor in 2022.
A Lack of Proper Explanation
Plus, Lake could never effectively answer the skeptical questions from the district court judge who presided over her ill-fated challenge to the 2022 election results in Arizona.
That judge had asked her why the possibility of stealing votes via electronic voting machines was any more serious than the possibility that hand-counted, old-style voting machines could also be rigged against a specific candidate.
Kari Lake could not answer this simple question. That’s because her entire lawsuit is built upon a house of sand. Plus, even if she does manage to have the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals review the dismissal of her lawsuit, the fact remains that the Ninth Circuit is one of the most Liberal courts in America.
She’s likely to be thrashed even harder by that court than anything else.
Kari Lake speaking with supporters at a Birthday campaign rally at the Embassy Suites by Hilton Scottsdale Resort in Scottsdale, Arizona.
The bottom line is that Kari Lake lost the gubernatorial race in Arizona in 2022. She will be unable to win her lawsuit challenge to electronic voting. Lake will not be the next senator from Arizona.
Lastly, Trump will never pick such a notorious loser as his vice-presidential candidate, should he manage to be made the GOP candidate in 2024. This whole thing is a waste of time and resources that could be used to support GOP candidates who can actually win these important offices.
Unfortunately, this is the sort of sideshow that the GOP has excelled at ever since it embraced Donald Trump as their lord and savior.
A 19FortyFive Senior Editor, Brandon J. Weichert is a former Congressional staffer and geopolitical analyst who is a contributor at The Washington Times, as well as at the Asia Times. He is the author of Winning Space: How America Remains a Superpower (Republic Book Publishers), Biohacked: China’s Race to Control Life (Encounter Books), and The Shadow War: Iran’s Quest for Supremacy (July 23). Weichert occasionally serves as a Subject Matter Expert for various organizations, including the Department of Defense. He can be followed via Twitter @WeTheBrandon.
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