Arizona Republican Kari Lake refuses to say whether she'll accept election results


Kari Lake, the Republican nominee for governor in Arizona, was asked multiple times on Sunday whether she will accept the election results if she loses — and each time, she didn't answer the question.
During an appearance on CNN's State of the Union, host Dana Bash asked Lake, a former news anchor at the Fox station in Phoenix, about accepting the results. After refusing to answer the first two times, Lake responded after the third query, "I'm going to win the election, and I will accept that result."
It's a close race between Lake and the Democratic nominee, current Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs. Hobbs was also interviewed for Sunday's State of the Union in a separate segment, and called Lake's refusal to answer Bash's questions "disqualifying."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Lake has falsely claimed the 2020 presidential election in Arizona was "stolen" from former President Donald Trump, and said she wouldn't have certified President Biden's victory. "This is somebody who will have a level of authority over our state's elections, the ability to sign new legislation into law, the responsibility of certifying future elections," Hobbs said. "And she has not only, as you heard, refused to to say if she will accept the results of this election, but also whether or not she would certify the 2024 presidential election if she's governor."
Hobbs has refused to debate Lake, saying her opponent is "only interested in creating a spectacle." Lake in turn has accused Hobbs of "cowardice."
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
-
June 29 editorial cartoons
Cartoons Sunday's political cartoons include the AI genie, Iran saving face, and bad language bombs
-
A tall ship adventure in the Mediterranean
The Week Recommends Sailing aboard this schooner and exploring Portugal, Spain and Monaco is a 'magical' experience
-
How drone warfare works
The Explainer From Ukraine to Iran, it has become clear that unmanned aircraft are rapidly revolutionising modern warfare
-
Canadian man dies in ICE custody
Speed Read A Canadian citizen with permanent US residency died at a federal detention center in Miami
-
GOP races to revise megabill after Senate rulings
Speed Read A Senate parliamentarian ruled that several changes to Medicaid included in Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill" were not permissible
-
Supreme Court lets states ax Planned Parenthood funds
Speed Read The court ruled that Planned Parenthood cannot sue South Carolina over the state's effort to deny it funding
-
Trump plans Iran talks, insists nuke threat gone
Speed Read 'The war is done' and 'we destroyed the nuclear,' said President Trump
-
Trump embraces NATO after budget vow, charm offensive
Speed Read The president reversed course on his longstanding skepticism of the trans-Atlantic military alliance
-
Trump judge pick told DOJ to defy courts, lawyer says
Speed Read Emil Bove, a top Justice Department official nominated by Trump for a lifetime seat, stands accused of encouraging government lawyers to mislead the courts and defy judicial orders
-
Mamdani upsets Cuomo in NYC mayoral primary
Speed Read Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani beat out Andrew Cuomo in New York City's Democratic mayoral primary
-
Supreme Court clears third-country deportations
Speed Read The court allowed Trump to temporarily resume deporting migrants to countries they aren't from