PHOENIX, Arizona (PNN) - August 3, 2022 - Kari Lake took the stage Wednesday morning, declaring herself the winner of the Republican gubernatorial primary despite no major networks or news organizations having a projected winner in that race. On Thursday evening, as another batch of ballots was processed, Lake had a lead of nearly 20,000 votes, widening the gap to 47% to Karrin Taylor Robson’s 44%. On Tuesday, as ballots poured in, Robson had an early lead against Lake. However, Lake then took an overnight lead against Robson and has maintained it since.

“We outvoted the fraud. We didn’t listen to what the fake news had to say. The MAGA movement rose up,” Lake told a crowd of supporters outside her campaign headquarters in Phoenix that morning.

Lake, a former news anchor, was endorsed by President Donald Trump in the Arizona primary against Karrin Taylor Robson, a development attorney backed by various establishment Republicans including former Vice President Mike Pence and current Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey.

Last night around 2 a.m., Lake took to Twitter to challenge Democrat candidate for Governor, Katie Hobbs, who overwhelming won the democrat nomination against former Nogales mayor Marco Lopez, who was running a primarily grassroots campaign. Those tweets came after a confident Lake said her campaign had enough election data clearing a clear path to victory.

Prior to her confirmed lead, Lake told crowds at an election rally that she is “winning this 100%” and that there is “no path to victory for my opponent. We won this race.” Some of her supporters were seen praying in a circle around 10 p.m. Hours later, she took the stage thanking the support who stood by her throughout the night as the vote count changed in her favor.

Lake has had numerous notable endorsements in the last few months carrying most of the support from the Trump-era wing of the party. Early in July, Lake announced on Twitter that former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio endorsed her with three weeks left in the race. “Sheriff Joe knows the damage out-of-control crime and immigration can do to this state. I won’t back down in my fight to secure our border and defend Arizona. They called Joe, ‘America’s Toughest Sheriff.’ I will be its toughest governor,” Lake tweeted.

Around that same time, Robson was endorsed by Gov. Doug Ducey. He announced his endorsement via Twitter video saying, “There are no surprises with Karrin. She’s a lifelong conservative Republican who got her start working for President Ronald Reagan.” He also undergirded Robson’s policies that she is “Pro-Life, Pro-Gun, and Pro-Wall.” A few months later, former Vice President Mike Pence joined to back Robson in the primary.

Votes are still being counted and no official winner has yet been declared.