Kari Lake dodges question over whether she’d certify 2024 election

Arizona Senate GOP candidate Kari Lake dodged a question on whether she would vote to certify the 2024 election results regardless of the outcome during an interview aired Wednesday.

NBC News congressional correspondent Julie Tsirkin asked Lake, who is running against Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) for Sen. Kyrsten Sinema’s (I) seat, if she would vote to codify the 2024 election no matter what happens if she became senator.

“Can you imagine asking a soccer player or a football player, will you agree ...” Lake began, before Tsirkin interjected “but this is our democratic process.”

Lake then asked Tsirkin if she wanted Lake to answer her question or if she wanted to argue with her.

“I’m not looking to argue with you, I just want a clear answer for Arizonans, once and for all,” Tsirkin explained, before Lake interjected.

“If you were playing a soccer game and they said to the soccer team, ‘Before this election, will you agree with every single call the ref makes and agree with everything that happens in this game?’ Nobody would say, ‘yes,’” Lake said. “We want to have a lawfully run election.”

“If we have a lawfully run election — absolutely, absolutely. There's nothing more I'd rather do [if] we have a lawfully run election,” Lake added. “So let's see. We hope we do. We really do, we want to make sure everything is run perfectly and wonderfully.”

Lake dodged another question from Tsirkin on whether she would tell voters that the democratic process needed to be respected and that officials didn’t find anything wrong in her 2022 election run for Arizona governor against Gov. Katie Hobbs (D).

“Julie, I'm going to — I’m going to end this right now, but I'm going to say we all in Arizona want honest elections, and I think that Ruby Gallego wants honest elections as well,” Lake replied, later turning her attention to issues around the economy and the border.

Lake attracted national attention during her run for Arizona governor last cycle as someone who’s outspokenly disputed the past election results. She has continued to contest her 2022 loss even as officials have found no evidence of wrongdoing and her cases have been tossed out by the courts.

Lake is trying to make a comeback this cycle against Gallego, though public polling has largely shown Gallego leading Lake. An aggregate of Arizona surveys compiled by Decision Desk HQ shows Gallego leading Lake 50 percent to 42 percent.