The Arizona Supreme Court rejected her bid behind closed doors just one day after the Nov. 5 election. The state’s high court also rejected similar bids from Republicans Abe Hamadeh and Mark Finchem related to their own losses in statewide races over two years ago.

In the petition, Lake’s legal team argued that “the 2022 election was irredeemably flawed.” There has been no evidence of widespread voter fraud in the Arizona midterm elections in 2022. Gov. Katie Hobbs (D-AZ) defeated Lake by over 17,000 votes.

Lake’s legal challenge alleged that there were issues with ballot tabulators and long lines in Maricopa County, which her legal team believed were sufficient cause to declare her Arizona’s governor or potentially to redo the election in the state’s most populous county.

In response to Lake’s last appeal in August, Tom Liddy, an attorney for Maricopa County, filed a damning response on the matter. 

“Rather than offering reasons why review should be granted, the Petition instead only argues that Lake is right and the lower courts are wrong,” Liddy wrote. “The Petition makes this argument by simply parroting Lake’s position below while ignoring much of the legal reasoning and all of the evidence that led the lower courts to decide against her.”

According to Phoenix attorney Tom Ryan, the high court’s denial of this appeal is the end for Lake’s long-enduring challenge to the results of the 2022 election. 

“To paraphrase a quote from Charles Dickens in his 1843 short story ‘A Christmas Carol,’ Kari Lake’s case is as dead as a doornail,” Ryan told the Arizona Mirror in an email statement. “Or to paraphrase Monty Python in their Dead Parrot skit, Kari Lake’s case is bereft of life, joined the Choir Eternal, kicked the bucket, bought the farm, is without any observable metabolic processes, and is not pining for the fjords of Norway. It is dead.”

Lake, who is currently trailing Democratic opponent Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) in the state’s Senate race, has made a name for herself as a proponent of election denialism, repeating claims that the 2020 election was stolen from now-President-elect Donald Trump. 

Hamadeh won a seat in Congress this cycle and is set to represent Arizona’s 8th Congressional District in the House, while Finchem will return to the state Senate.

Hamadeh lost to Democratic Attorney General Kris Mayes by just 280 votes after a recount and filed his own case in Mohave County. Mayes applauded the Arizona Supreme Court decision.

“We applaud the Supreme Court’s correct decision to end this frivolous challenge from Mr. Hamadeh,” Mayes said in a statement. “This ends a series of ill-fated and ill-informed lawsuits that has carried into an entirely new election cycle. I will continue my work being a lawyer for all the people of Arizona.”