Kari Lake refuses to say if she would accept election result if she loses

Arizona Republican gubernatorial nominee Kari Lake on Sunday declined to say if she would accept the results of her election if she loses next month.

“I’m going to win the election, and I will accept that result,” Lake told CNN’s Dana Bash on “State of the Union.”

“If you lose, will you accept that?” Bash followed up.

“I’m going to win the election,” Lake responded. “And I will accept that result, because the people of Arizona will never support and vote for a coward like Katie Hobbs who won’t show up on a debate stage.”

Hobbs has refused to debate Lake, calling it a “spectacle” after previously describing Lake as a “conspiracy theorist” when asked about a potential debate.

Hobbs and Lake participated in dueling interviews the past two weekends on the big network Sunday morning talk shows. Both nominees appeared on “State of the Union” on Sunday after appearing on CBS’s “Face the Nation” last week.

Former President Trump endorsed Lake in her primary last fall, one of many candidates who attracted the former president’s support after endorsing his claims of mass electoral fraud.

“She is single handedly destroying a 20-year tradition of gubernatorial debates because of her cowardice,” Lake said of Hobbs. “So I know already: no momentum behind her, the polls are in our favor, and we’re going to win this election. I’m 100 percent confident of that.”

The nonpartisan Cook Political Report rates the race as a “toss up.”

Lake’s refusal to say if she will accept a loss in November came after Bash and the Arizona Republican sparred over unfounded claims of mass electoral fraud in the 2020 election.

Bash repeatedly contested Lake’s view of the election, while Lake accused Bash’s dismissal as evidence of a biased media.

“When you start seeing the media cancel people for questioning their government, then that’s when we have a problem,” Lake said.