Explosive court documents show Stephen Richer, who serves as Maricopa County recorder, admitting he wanted to “make life hell” for Senate Republican candidate Kari Lake.
According to a text exchange within the filings, Richer also admitted to being vehemently “anti-MAGA.”
Richer, in his role as recorder, is in charge of ballots – early voting, which includes mail-in voting – that could decide whether or not Lake prevails in her tight run for the Senate.
RedState’s current live election numbers have Lake trailing Democrat Rep. Ruben Gallego by under 33,000 votes with 84% of the votes counted. The race has not been called.
The Daily Mail has reviewed court documents, including a transcript from a June 21 deposition derived from a defamation case brought by Richer against Lake. The lawsuit stems from Lake’s questioning of election integrity, which he claims led to threats against him and his family.
During the deposition, Richer is asked about his future career prospects, which include his own run for United States Senate “just to fly the flag for real conservatism and make life hell for Kari.”
“Why would you want to make life hell for Kari Lake in March of 2023?” a lawyer asks.
Richer replies, “I don’t remember. I don’t think she’s a real conservative.”
Stephen Richer, Maricopa County Recorder, was deposed in June of last year and admitted he wants to make @KariLake’s life hell. And he is counting ballots! He can’t be trusted! pic.twitter.com/SrixigL3CE
— Garret Lewis (@GarretLewis) November 9, 2024
Further revealing an extreme bias against Lake and the movement she represents, the Maricopa County Recorder strongly affirms that he does not stand with the Make America Great Again Movement.
“I just don’t think there’s enough non-MAGA voters in the primary right now for running against somebody as well known and financed as Kari,” Richer told a friend regarding his own potential challenge to Lake.
“And I’m not only not MAGA, but I’m anti-MAGA,” he concludes. “Thoughts?”
Not only is the County Recorder tasked with overseeing election results, but they are also responsible for “managing voter registration” in Maricopa.
In a report just prior to Election Day, the Recorder’s Office defended restoring the registration status of 98,000 individuals with unconfirmed citizenship to its voter rolls. The issue had been blamed on a data glitch.
Arizona county defends restoring 98,000 with unconfirmed citizenship to voter rolls https://t.co/D5q5KqUh1u
— Fox News (@FoxNews) November 4, 2024
Officials in Maricopa County, Arizona’s most populous county, have long struggled to get ballots counted in a timely fashion through several election cycles.
Florida Senator Marco Rubio (R) blasted the states of Arizona and Nevada following the 2022 midterms asking on X, “If #Florida can count 7.5 million ballots in 5 hours how can it take days for some states to count less than 2 million?”
Lake, at the time, responded that Rubio posed a “great question.”
Richer isn’t the only Republican official to attempt to make Ms. Lake’s life hell. Former Arizona Republican Party chair Jeff DeWit was forced to resign in January after bombshell audio was released capturing an attempt to bribe Lake to stay out of politics.
“There are very powerful people who want to keep you out,” DeWit had said before suggesting she could get lucrative no-show jobs instead. Lake had only been considering running for the Senate seat at the time.
“Just say, is there a number at which…” DeWit continues before Lake cuts him off: “I can be bought? That’s what it’s about.”
“They’re going to have to f***ing kill me to stop me,” she fired back.
BREAKING: Arizona Republican Party chair Jeff DeWit caught on secret recording trying to bribe Kari Lake not to run for the Senate.
Holy s***!
“There are very powerful people who want to keep you out,” he said.
At one point during the secret recording, Lake was asked to name… pic.twitter.com/9r1DoDzITD
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) January 23, 2024
At one point on the audio tape, Lake suggests DeWit reveal the corruption within the Arizona Republican party by going public with who had asked him to bribe her out of the race.
Frighteningly, he suggested he couldn’t do that for fear of repercussions.
“No, no, no, no, no,” he replies. “Then I turn my key in my car and *boom*.”
Richer, a Republican, has held the Maricopa County Recorder position since 2020. He deleted his X account two days after this year’s election citing harassment.
“I’ve been a human punching bag for simply making factual statements that the election wasn’t stolen or that we’ve never had 100% results on election night,” he told the Arizona Republic.
The man who wanted to “make life hell” for Kari Lake couldn’t handle a little online heat?
In July, Richer lost his primary to GOP challenger Justin Heap, who had backing from the far-right Freedom Caucus and other conservative groups. His term will end on January 1, 2025.
