Katie Hobbs
Katie HobbsRoss D. Franklin/Pool via REUTERS//File Photo

Arizona Democratic Gov.-elect Katie Hobbs and Maricopa County filed for sanctions on Monday against Republican Kari Lake, less than 48 hours after a judge ruled against Lake's efforts to have herself declared the winner of Arizona's governor race, NBC News reported.

Hobbs and the county asked for sanctions against Lake and her legal team after an Arizona judge denied Lake's bid to reverse the results of the November election in a two-day trial.

Lake was allowed to go to trial last week with two of her 10 claims, which alleged misconduct with ballot printers and problems with ballot chain of custody. On Saturday, the court denied Lake’s challenge and said the court did not find clear and convincing evidence of misconduct that would have changed the election results.

Attorneys for Hobbs, who has been Arizona's secretary of state for four years, joined the county in its filing Monday seeking $25,050 from Lake, which includes attorney fees for Hobbs and the state’s most populous county, according to NBC News.

The county took aim at Lake’s remarks before the election indicating she would not accept the results unless she won, as well as her “groundless” and “frivolous” lawsuit after the election was certified.

“Before a single vote was counted in the 2022 general election, Kari Lake publicly stated that she would accept the results of the gubernatorial election only if she were the winning candidate,” the county said in the filing.

“But she has not simply failed to publicly acknowledge the election results. Instead, she filed a groundless, seventy-page election contest lawsuit against the Governor-Elect, the Secretary of State, and Maricopa County and several of its elected officials and employees (but no other county or its employees), thereby dragging them and this Court into this frivolous pursuit.”

Lake had declined to concede the governor race to Hobbs and raised concerns about the election process.

A Trump-backed candidate, she had sidestepped questions about whether she would accept the results of her election on multiple occasions during the campaign.