Lake’s victory was a blow to the GOP establishment that has lined up behind attorney and businesswoman Karrin Taylor Robson in an effort to push their party through the chaotic Trump era. Lake said she would not have certified President Joe Biden to win in 2020 and made false allegations of voter fraud a centerpiece of her campaign. “Arizona residents who have been forgotten by the establishment have just caused a political earthquake,” Lake said in a statement after the race was announced. Republicans now enter the general election sprint with a slate of candidates closely allied with Trump who deny that Biden was legitimately elected president. Lake will face Democratic Secretary of State Katie Hobbs in the November election. “This race for governor is not about Democrats or Republicans. It’s a choice between sanity and chaos,” Hobbs said Thursday night in a statement about Lake’s victory. Early election results showing only mail-in ballots received before Election Day gave Robson a solid lead, but that narrowed as polling station votes were added to the tally. Lake’s victory became clear Thursday when Maricopa County released results from thousands of mail-in ballots dropped at the polls Tuesday. “The voters of Arizona have spoken,” Robson said in a statement released to Lake late Thursday. “I accept the results, I trust the process and the people who manage it.” In a midterm primary season with mixed results for Trump’s favored candidates, the former president came out on top in Arizona, a state central to his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election and challenge Biden’s victory. In addition to Lake, Trump’s picks for the U.S. Senate, secretary of state, attorney general, U.S. House and state legislature all won GOP primaries. If they win in November, Trump’s allies will dominate election management in a critical situation as he considers another bid for the White House in 2024. The results also show that Trump remains a powerful figure in the GOP as longtime party strongmen grow and bolder in their efforts to regain control ahead of the next presidential campaign. Former Vice President Mike Pence, Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie campaigned for Robson in the days leading up to the election. Robson, who is married to one of Arizona’s richest men, largely self-funded her campaign. He called the 2020 election “unfair,” but stopped short of calling it fraudulent, and urged the GOP to look to the future. Lake now faces the daunting task of unifying the Republican Party after a tough primary. On Wednesday, as Lake prematurely declared victory, she sought to reach out to Robson and others she has fiercely criticized as RINOs, or Republicans in Name Only, who do not align with Trump on key issues. “Frankly, this party needs her to come to her senses and I welcome her,” Lake said of Robson. “And hopefully he’ll come for it.” Robson said she has spent her life supporting Republicans, “and I hope our Republican candidates are successful in November.” Like Trump, Lake courts controversy and confrontation. He criticizes journalists and avoids questions. She burned masks during the summer 2021 COVID-19 outbreak and attacked Republicans like Ducey for allowing restrictions on businesses, though as a news anchor she encouraged people to follow public health guidelines. Lake spent the days leading up to her own election claiming there were signs of fraud, but refused to provide any evidence. Once her victory is assured, she said voters must trust that her victory is legitimate. “We outvoted fraud,” Lake said. She pointed to problems in Pinal County, which ran out of ballots in some precincts and needed to print more, but she and her attorney, Tim La Sota, declined to provide evidence to support her claims of fraud. She said she doesn’t plan to stop talking about voter fraud, even though she needs to broaden her appeal beyond the loyalists who led to her primary victory. Federal and state election officials and Trump’s own attorney general have said there is no credible evidence that the 2020 election was tainted. Trump’s claims of fraud have also been rejected by the courts, including by judges he appointed. A manual count led by Trump supporters in Maricopa County, Arizona’s largest county, found no evidence of a stolen election and concluded that Biden’s margin of victory was greater than the official count. Hobbs, Lake’s opponent in November, went after the candidate for her opposition to abortion rights and gun control and a proposal she made to put cameras in every classroom to monitor teachers. Republicans, heading into November as a divided party in Arizona, must appeal to independent voters who decide close races, said Chuck Coughlin, a longtime Republican strategist who left the party during the Trump era. “I see that as a challenge that Republicans will have: How do they tell the story to unaffiliated voters?” Coughlin said.
