Lake lost the Arizona governor election by more than 17,000 votes to Democratic candidate Katie Hobbs, who was sworn into office on January 2.
Her claims of electoral fraud were rejected in December 2022 by a Maricopa County judge, who said Lake hadn’t provided “clear and convincing evidence” of malpractice. The prominent Trump supporter immediately announced her intention to appeal.
On Monday, Lake announced she was holding a “Save Arizona rally” on January 29 and posted a promotional poster for the event.
The poster depicts Lake in front of the state flag, superimposed over a rural scene.
Lake is the only political figure listed as “featuring” at the rally, the venue of which has not been announced at time of writing.
The post provoked a mixed response, with some social media users mocking Lake while others said they supported the event.
Communications consultant Jeremy Ross replied with a post showing Lake’s ad side by side with an official poster for Raising Arizona, a 1987 Coen brothers comedy starring Nicolas Cage, with the date of Lake’s rally added on top. The poster centers on Cage as H.I. McDunnough, which other characters spread around and a background roughly resembling the flag of Arizona.
Ross added: “You can only choose one…with popcorn.”
Another Twitter user responded with an edited photograph showing Lake in a golf cart with Donald Trump, along with a caption reading “Get In Loser—We’re Going Losing.”
Trump has continued to claim he was the real winner of the 2020 presidential election, though this has been rejected repeatedly in court and by independent election experts.
However, other social media users were more supportive, with one commenting: “I really wish I could be there. I live in Tucson and can not make it. I hope it will be aired on YouTube. I do not watch TV.”
Another added: “Keep fighting for America.”
A recently published analysis of the Arizona gubernatorial election, conducted by three auditors and shared with The Arizona Republic, concluded Lake lost because 33,000 nominally Republican leaning voters cast their ballots for Hobbs.
The findings were based on publicly available voting records, and showed a sizable number of Arizona voters who backed Republican candidates in down ballot races, refused to vote for Lake to be the state’s governor.
Speaking to The Arizona Republic, Benny White, one of the report’s authors, said: “She just ran a terrible campaign. It doesn’t help to call Republicans RINOs [Republican in name only].”
Kari Lake has been contacted for comment.
