Republican Kari Lake files lawsuit challenging her loss in the Arizona gubernatorial election

• Kari Lake on Friday filed a lawsuit challenging her loss in the Arizona gubernatorial election.
• Lake is asking to be named the winner of the race or for a new vote to be held in Maricopa County.

Kari Lake, the fiery Trump-backed Republican who was defeated in the Arizona gubernatorial race in November, on Friday filed a lawsuit against state elections officials challenging the certification of the contest.

Lake, who rose to national stardom in GOP circles after parroting former President Donald Trump's debunked claims of voter fraud in the 2020 election, filed the suit with the Maricopa County Superior Court after the state's November general election results were certified on Monday.

The suit goes after Democratic Gov.-elect Katie Hobbs, who defeated Lake last month and remains in her current role as Arizona's secretary of state, along with leading officials in Maricopa County, where the Republican has alleged that a swath of GOP voters were "disenfranchised" after encountering issues at several polling precincts on Election Day.

Lake is requesting an order "declaring that Kari Lake is the winner of the 2022 Arizona gubernatorial election," or as separate option tossing the gubernatorial results in the county and mandating that officials there conduct a new vote.

Maricopa County, which includes the state capital of Phoenix, is by far the most populous county in the state — containing roughly 60% of Arizona's population.

In the general election, Hobbs edged out Lake in Maricopa County 51%-49%, netting roughly 42,000 votes in the county out of more than 1.5 million ballots cast.

Hobbs won statewide 50.3%-49.7%, or by a little over 17,000 votes out of nearly 2.6 million ballots.

Lake previously charged that long lines and printer malfunctions negatively impacted voters who voted on Election Day, while also stating without evidence that votes were illegally cast.

Lake in November filed a public records suit seeking additional information about counted and uncounted ballots that may have been inadvertently mixed during the election counting process. Per the Associated Press, Maricopa County said there were several such occurrences last month, but officials affirmed that it occurs in many elections and can be resolved.

"If the process was illegitimate, then so are the results," Lake tweeted on Friday after announcing the Maricopa County suit. "Stay tuned, folks."

Hobbs' campaign manager in a statement on Friday blasted her former opponent's newest lawsuit as a "nuisance."

"Kari Lake needs attention like a fish needs water — and independent experts and local election officials of both parties have made it clear that this was a safe, secure, and fair election," the statement read. "Arizonans made their voices heard and elected Katie Hobbs as their governor. No nuisance lawsuit will change that, and we remain laser-focused on getting ready to hit the ground running on Day One of Katie Hobbs' administration next year."