Stephen Richer, the outgoing Maricopa County Recorder in Arizona, has been embroiled in controversy following the release of court documents that reveal his desire to run for Senate to cause difficulties for Republican candidate Kari Lake. The documents, part of a defamation case Richer filed against Lake, were first made public in a deposition on June 21. Richer, who is set to leave his office by the end of the year, is responsible for overseeing the ballots that could determine the outcome of Lake’s close race against Democrat Ruben Gallego.
The court documents contain a transcript of a conversation between Richer and a friend, identified as “Ben Blink.” During the conversation, Richer lists several potential career paths, including exiting politics permanently or temporarily, running for re-election as a Republican or an independent, running for mayor, or running for the U.S. Senate. His motivation for a Senate run, he stated, was to champion true conservatism and to make life difficult for Kari Lake.
Richer confirmed that he made these comments during the deposition, but clarified that he never seriously considered launching a Senate campaign. When asked why he would want to cause problems for Lake in 2023, Richer responded that he didn’t recall his reasoning, but suggested that he didn’t believe Lake was a genuine conservative.
Lake, a former TV anchor, has previously claimed that she lost the 2022 governor’s race to Democrat Katie Hobbs due to issues with ballot printers at some Maricopa County polling places. She alleged that these issues were the result of intentional misconduct and that the county failed to verify signatures on mail-in ballots as required by law. However, her legal attempts to overturn the election results have been unsuccessful.
Both Lake and Richer were unavailable for immediate comment.