A top Republican official in Arizona filed a libel lawsuit Thursday against fellow Republican Kari Lake, who falsely claims she lost the 2022 gubernatorial race due to fraud.

Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer said he has faced violent vitriol and other dire consequences, including death threats and the loss of friendships due to lies spread by Lake.

Instead of accepting political defeat, instead of getting a new job, she has sought to undermine confidence in our elections and mobilized millions of her followers against me, Richer wrote in an Arizona Republic op-ed.

Lake is a former Phoenix television newscaster who quickly built an enthusiastic political following as a loyal supporter of former President Trump and his lie that the 2020 election was stolen from him. She narrowly lost her own race for Arizona governor last year, along with a lawsuit disputing the results.

Despite her court losses, she continues to claim that Richer and other Maricopa County officials interfered in the election to prevent her from winning.

A Lake spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment. She is openly considering running for the U.S. Senate and is a leading contender to become Trump’s running mate in his 2024 presidential campaign.

The lawsuit, filed in Maricopa County Superior Court, names Lake, her campaign, and her political fundraising group as defendants. In addition to unspecified monetary damages, Richer is seeking a court order declaring Lake’s statements to be false and requiring her to remove them from social media.

Supreme Court precedent sets the bar high for libel suits brought by government officials like Richer. But Dominion Voting Systems’ lawsuit against the Fox News Channel alleging false claims about its vote-counting equipment resulted in damaging revelations from Fox internal posts and a $787.5 million settlement.

Richer’s lawyers wrote in their complaint that Lake has the right to criticize Richer, but not to spread lies that harm him.

Specifically, the lawsuit challenges two allegations: that Richer deliberately had 19-inch ballot images printed on 20-inch paper, causing counting problems, and that he injected 300,000 counterfeit ballots. It details nearly three dozen times she’s made the claims publicly on social media or at rallies and press conferences.

The indictment alleges that Richer received death threats, including a case prosecuted by the Justice Department, and that he spent thousands of dollars on homeland security. He said he and his wife have changed their routines and law enforcement has stepped up patrols around their home and workplace.

She has gone far beyond the bounds of protected free speech guaranteed by the First Amendment and the Arizona Constitution, Richer wrote in the Republic.