Mr. Richer is also a Republican. The lawsuit was filed in June. The move comes after months of attacks by Lake and his supporters, who accused Lake without evidence of fraud in Arizona's 2022 gubernatorial election.

Lake lost that election to Katie Hobbs by more than 17,000 votes, but the following year failed trial trying to overturn the election results. The trial, appellate court and Arizona Supreme Court judges all agreed that Lake and his attorneys provided evidence that the 2022 election was interfered with by Richer and others in Maricopa County. The court ruled that it was insufficient.

Lake never admitted defeat in the race after that. Announces candidacy for US Senate election During October.

In December, Ms. Lake's lawyer tried to convince Ms. Adleman that Ms. Lake's claims about Mr. Richer were mere claims. “rhetorical exaggeration” Although it was not intended to be taken as fact, the judge did not accept that argument.

Arizona State University's First Amendment Clinic also argued on Lake's behalf, saying the lawsuit should be dismissed because it violates Arizona's constitution. Strategic action on public participation lawRicher specifically claims that he filed the lawsuit to override Lake's First Amendment free speech rights.

Adleman also rejected that argument.

Mr. Richer was involved in the “injection” of 300,000 illegal early ballots in Maricopa County on Election Day 2022, intentionally manipulating ballot printing machines to print incorrectly sized ballot images. The lawsuit accuses Lake of repeatedly claiming he was involved in programming the machine to cause it to malfunction. Rejecting those ballots on election day.

Lake used both of these arguments in his court challenges to the 2022 election results, but the courts rejected each argument.

Mr. Adleman also found that Mr. Richer provided sufficient evidence in December that Mr. Lake had made statements about him with “actual malice.” That is, she knew that her claims were false or had reckless disregard for their truth or falsity.

To win a defamation case, public officials like Richer must prove actual malice, which is a higher hurdle than for ordinary citizens.

Lake reached out to social media site X, formerly known as Twitter, for comment on the story Wednesday.

“They seek to strip away our protected political speech and ensure that no one running for office can speak up and criticize elected officials,” Lake wrote. “They are trying to criminalize honest journalism and freedom of the press. “They are trying to prevent mothers and fathers from attending school board meetings and criticizing their representatives. The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution would be abolished.”

As the case heads toward trial, Lake is busy campaigning for the U.S. Senate — she announced: raised $2.1 million In the first quarter of her campaign, not only did fellow election denier President Donald Trump stumble in his bid to retake the presidency.

Lake was scheduled to speak at a Trump event in Iowa on Thursday ahead of next week's Iowa caucuses, the Trump campaign said.