Kari Lake says she won’t entertain question about certifying 2020 election

Arizona Senate candidate Kari Lake (R) doubled down on false claims that the 2020 election was stolen in a CNN interview Sunday, and she refused to answer whether former Vice President Mike Pence should have certified the election’s results.

Lake, who lost a 2022 Arizona gubernatorial bid and unsuccessfully challenged the election results in court alleging fraud, sat down with CNN’s Melanie Zanona on “Inside Politics Sunday.”

“If you had been vice president, would you have certified the 2020 election result?” Zanona asked.

“These are crazy … this is like a hypothetical going forward, and a hypothetical going backward,” Lake said. “I’m not going to entertain that.”

Multiple GOP politicians, including Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) and Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) said last month that they did not agree with Pence’s decision to certify the election results, despite no evidence of any election fraud. 

Lake backed off previous claims that her gubernatorial election was stolen, saying only that there were “major problems,” but made clear her thoughts on the 2020 race.

“2020 election, I think it was a rigged election,” she said. “I believe it was.”

The former television news anchor will face off against Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) for the Senate seat currently held by Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.). Sinema announced she will not run for reelection last week, after previously leaving the Democratic Party last year.

The race is expected to be one of the closest in the country as Democrats hope to hold their razor-thin margin in the Senate. Early polls show Gallego with a slight lead over Lake.

Lake has picked up multiple high-profile endorsements in recent days, including from over a dozen Senators after a Capitol Hill blitz last week.