Kari Lake, CNN's Kaitlan Collins tangle over results of Arizona gubernatorial race

^{Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) and Republican candidate Kari Lake faced off in their only debate in the Arizona Senate race on October 9.}

CNN’s Kaitlan Collins and Arizona Senate nominee Kari Lake (R) got into a heated back-and-forth on Monday over the results of the 2022 Arizona gubernatorial race.

Lake lost the election to Democrat Katie Hobbs by just over 17,000 votes. To this day, she has refused to accept the results and has carried out several legal challenges that have been rejected in court.

On Monday, Lake joined Collins for her show “The Source,” where she was asked if she would be admitting she lost the 2022 race.

“You know what, Kaitlan, you’ve seen thousands of interviews from me. I’ve answered that a million times,” Lake said in comments highlighted by Mediate.

Collins interjected, noting that Lake, an ally of former President Trump, has yet to “directly answer the question” that she lost the election.

“Well, I want to make sure our elections are run properly, and I’m still in litigation, so I don’t want to speak to that. But I do want to look forward, and it’s so funny that the media … can’t get over it. You say I can’t get over it, and it looks like you can't,” Lake responded.

“I don’t think I said that,” Collins said with a laugh. “I just said you haven’t conceded the race, and I know you mentioned your litigation. You filed multiple lawsuits. Have any of those lawsuits been successful?”

Lake then said Collins had asked 10 questions and all of them were election- or abortion-related.

“You’ve asked zero questions about inflation and the cost of living. In Arizona, we can’t afford to live anymore. We have the fastest-growing rent prices in the country in three of our cities,” she continued.

Collins pressed the Republican again, “So, you’re not going to answer the question about whether or not you lost the election?”

Lake then redirected again, talking about immigration and the country’s southern border until Collins interrupted.

“Do you think people care if you’re willing to accept the results of an election that was free and fair and that you followed multiple lawsuits that have not gone anywhere?” Collins pressed, noting the defamation lawsuit filed against Lake from an Arizona election official.

“Well, I think what you meant to ask is, 'Kari, things are really tough right now,'” Lake responded.

Collins then told Lake that “with all due respect, I’m conducting this interview.”

“But you’re not answering those questions. And if that’s your answer, that’s fine,” she said.

Lake is running against Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) for the open Senate seat in the key battleground state, but he’s not faring as well there as Trump.

According to The Hill/Decision Desk HQ, Gallego leads Lake by 7.2 percentage points, while Trump is leading Vice President Harris in Arizona by 1.9 percentage points.