Arizona elections official said he wanted to make Kari Lake’s life hell while Senate race remains undecided

The election official overseeing voting in Arizona’s most populous county told a friend last year that he was interested in running for Senate “to make Kari (Lake)’s life hell,” according to court documents which were seen by DailyMail.com.

As Maricopa County Recorder, Stephen Richer is in charge of voting that could decide whether Lake prevails in her tight race for Senate.

But the comments will raise questions among allies of the conservative firebrand about whether he can lead a fair election.

The explosive words come from the transcript of a June 21 deposition that will be included in papers to be filed Friday as part of a defamation lawsuit Richer filed against Lake.

They show that Richer also describes himself as “anti-MAGA.”

Lake, a key figure in Donald Trump’s Make America Great Again movement, claimed she lost the 2022 race for governor due to deliberate misconduct but failed in her legal challenges to overturn the outcome.

She is currently less than two percentage points behind her Democratic opponent Ruben Gallego, with about 77 percent of the votes having been counted.

But the race is much closer than many polls predicted, raising the possibility of a new round of legal challenges if Lake loses.

The statement asks Richer to look into communications between himself and a friend named Ben Blink.”

“Mr. Blink says which options intrigue you?” says an attorney for Lake.

‘And your answer is a sort of laundry list of bullet points: get out of politics permanently; temporarily withdraw from politics; run for re-election as a Republican; run for re-election as an independent; running for mayor if there is no Kate; and then eventually run for U.S. Senator just to raise the flag for true conservatism and make Kari’s life a living hell.

“Did I read that correctly?”

“Yes,” Richer answers.

Richer goes on to say that he never made a serious move to launch a run.

“Why would you want to make Lake Kari’s life hell in March 2023?” he is asked.

“I don’t know anymore,” he answers. “I don’t think she’s really conservative.”

Lake rose to national prominence after narrowly losing the 2022 election for governor, following Donald Trump’s claims of election fraud.

She was even suggested as a possible running mate for Trump before she decided to run for the Senate seat vacated by Kyrsten Sinema.

Richer sued her for defamation, saying her repeated claims of manipulation made him and his family the target of threats.

“As a result of their actions, my family and I have faced an endless barrage of threats – including calls for our execution – I have lost close personal relationships and my reputation has been damaged beyond repair,” he said in March.

In the statement, Lake’s attorney reads from another text exchange with Garrick Taylor as they discuss his chances of winning the Republican nomination for the Senate seat.

“I just don’t think there are enough non-MAGA voters in the primaries right now to run against someone as well known and funded as Kari.

“And not only am I not a MAGA, but I’m anti-MAGA. Thoughts?’

In a motion set to be filed Friday, Lake’s husband Jeff Halperin will ask the court to drop the defamation case.

Lake’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment.

For her part, Lake previously described the lawsuit as “frivolous” and a “political witch hunt,” the same language Trump used in dismissing cases against him.

She said it showed that the Washington political establishment knew that “they can’t beat either of us fairly, so they hit us with lawsuits to keep us tied up and off the campaign trail.”

Richer, a Republican, has held the position since 2020.

But this year he lost a primary to GOP challenger Justin Heap, a state representative who had the backing of the far-right Freedom Caucus.

Richer’s legal team did not immediately respond to a request for comment.