Kari Lake doesn't want to recall Gov. Katie Hobbs? That's different

With just two months to go until a drive to recall Gov. Katie Hobbs can begin, the governor has found in an unlikely ally.

Kari Lake.

It seems the perpetually aggrieved queen of the far right is warning off her supporters from enlisting in a drive to recall Hobbs.

One might think that Lake, who has spent the last six months excoriating Hobbs and calling her an “illegitimate” governor, would be counting down the days until Arizona voters can bounce Hobbs out of office and install Lake to what she believes is her rightful place.

That’s if she thinks they really would.

Election deniers want to recall Hobbs

Election deniers have been itching to recall Hobbs since the day she took office, though they can’t begin circulating petitions until July 2, six months after she was sworn in. (More likely July 3, since the 2nd is a Sunday.)

An anonymous group called Arizona Citizens is all over social media, recruiting volunteers to circulate petitions.

There’s no way yet to really know if they have the heft to pull off a recall. But they are selling merchandise with catchy messages, like “Arrest Cartel Katie” and “Recall Hobbs the Fraud.”

Some on the Republican Party’s far right seem to be worried.

On Sunday, former Assistant Attorney General Jennifer Wright sounded the alarm about trying to recall Hobbs, saying it would detract from other 2024 election priorities.

“If successful, a recall would likely result in a 3-way race between @katiehobbs, @KariLake, & a spoiler candidate,” Wright tweeted. “Mounting a costly, time-consuming, energy zapping, & likely defeating recall effort plays into the Dems hands; it just drains time, talent, & resources.”

Kari Lake would rather that they not

Cue Lake: “I agree with Jen on this,” she tweeted. “That is why I will fight in the courts and take every possible legal avenue to fight this great crime/injustice — including taking our case to the US Supreme Court.”

Lake agrees that she’d lose?

That’s a surprising admission from a woman who claims to be the leader of “the biggest political movement that the state of Arizona has ever seen.”

Granted, recalls are hard, as they should be when you are trying to oust a duly-elected public official.

But that didn’t deter Lake in January, when she called for the recall of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors and County Recorder Stephen Richer for presiding over the election she lost.

In Hobbs’ case, recall organizers would have 120 days to collect the valid signatures of 639,872 voters.

Her faith is in the courts, not her supporters?

Sure, it would take buckets of cash. How fortunate, then, that Lake has presumably been raking in the dough through her “dark money” nonprofit, the Save Arizona Fund.

And lots of sneakers on sidewalks, collecting signatures in the heat of an Arizona summer. But surely that would be child’s play for a dynamo who is head of a “movement” — the state’s largest ever, no less.

Surely, it would be a breeze for a woman who insists she already won.

Independent review says: Election Day problems not tied to fraud

Instead, Lake says she’s putting her faith not in her supporters to force a recall but in the courts, where she has thus far lost her election challenge at every level.

Sure, that makes sense.

I suppose it’s possible that she’s being selfless, putting the needs of the Republican Party in a crucial election year ahead of her own ... nah.

If so, that would be a first.

Maybe Lake has her sights on loftier goals

Count Republican strategist Tyler Montague among the confused.

“You would think that she would be all about a recall,” Montague, one of the key players in the 2011 recall of then-Senate President Russell Pearce, told me.

“Maybe she realizes that she would lose the recall election by even wider margins and wants nothing to do with it. Maybe she’s making so much money on her election fraud grift that she doesn’t want a distraction.”

Or maybe she’s now setting her sights on loftier goals than the Ninth Floor — like the U.S. Senate or the White House, one heartbeat away from the Oval Office.

Whatever the reason, it’s curious that Lake is trying to head off a recall of a governor she despises fully two months before it could even begin.

The voters have already spoken.

Why would Lake be afraid to once again hear what they have to say?

Reach Roberts at laurie.roberts@arizonarepublic.com. Follow her on Twitter at @LaurieRoberts.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Kari Lake doesn't want to recall Gov. Katie Hobbs? Whoa