Kari Lake Responds to Ousting of Arizona Republican

Kari Lake, former Arizona gubernatorial candidate, on Wednesday bashed the Arizona House over its expulsion of a Republican lawmaker for violating ethics rules.

Representative Liz Harris was ousted from office by the GOP-led Arizona House of Representatives for her role in a controversial February committee hearing. Harris invited Jacqueline Breger to speak before a joint committee session at the state house, at which Breger shared wild conspiracy theories about public officials in Arizona, including baseless claims of some accepting bribes from a Mexican drug cartel.

The Arizona House Ethics Committee found in a report released Wednesday that Harris was in violation of the chamber’s rules for causing “disorderly conduct.” The state House voted to remove Harris from office following the committee’s decision in a 46-13 vote, with 18 out of 31 Republican representatives supporting removal of their GOP colleague.

Lake posted on Twitter after Harris was expelled, condemning Arizona’s House for having “kicked out a duly elected member,” adding that the voters in Harris’ district “should have the final say in her future.”

“And the most corrupt individuals in the entire state (the ones who sabotaged the election) will pick the replacement,” Lake said in a following tweet. “Arizona, we are truly living in a banana republic.”

Newsweek has reached out to the Republican Party of Arizona and Lake’s communications team via email for comment.

Harris has received backlash from both Republican and Democratic state lawmakers for inviting Breger as a witness, including Republican Speaker of the House Ben Toma, who called Breger’s presentation “disgraceful fringe theater.”

Under state law, Republican Party members in Harris’ district will select three potential alternates to fill her vacancy, which will all have to be members of the GOP. The final decision is then made by the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, who will choose one of the finalists to serve until the 2024 election.

Lake has repeatedly attacked election officials in Maricopa County in her long-standing attempt to overturn her loss to Democratic Governor Katie Hobbs in November’s midterm election. The former candidate endorsed by ex-President Donald Trump claims that the election officials purposely disadvantaged same-day voters on Election Day, although several state judges have dismissed Lake’s accusations.

Although she has yet to concede in her race against Hobbs, Lake is “seriously considering” running for U.S. Senate in 2024 to replace Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema, who recently registered as an independent. Recent polling, however, suggests that Democratic Representative Ruben Gallego is the favorite to take Sinema’s seat.

“Just because they stole an election, we’re so dangerous to them, I’m so dangerous to the status quo and this rotten swamp that they’re willing to steal an election to stop me and our movement,” Lake said during an interview with One America News Network this week. “I’m not letting them get away with that. We’re not going away. And so I am seriously considering a run for Senate.”