Supporters hold signs as Kari Lake speaks at an Oct. 10, 2023, event launching her 2024 campaign for the U.S. Senate. Photo by Caitlin Sievers | Arizona Mirror
Republican U.S. Senate candidate from Arizona Kari Lake stuck to her regular talking points during a brief speech at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee on Tuesday.
Lake slammed the news media that she used to be a member of, called for the end to the “indoctrination” of children in public schools and started a chant of “build the wall” from the stage that looked out into a sea of Republican politicians, candidates and supporters.
The former longtime Phoenix news anchor announced her bid for Senate last October in a speech that was much longer, but materially similar to the one she gave on Tuesday.
Lake garnered Trump’s support in 2022 in her bid for governor, and followed in his footsteps, challenging the results of the election, and crying election fraud without proof, after she lost by more than 17,000 votes to Democrat Katie Hobbs. He’s also endorsed her bid for U.S. Senate.
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Even as she campaigns for this year’s election, Lake continues to appeal the results of her 2022 election challenge that she has lost at every level of the Arizona court system. Her lawyers in that case have been sanctioned by the Arizona Supreme Court for lying in legal filings about illegal ballots being counted in Maricopa County in 2022. One of her attorneys was recently suspended from practicing law for 60 days for that transgression.
She’s also in the midst of a defamation suit, filed in June 2023 by Republican Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer, for falsely accusing him of intentionally sabotaging the 2022 election.
Lake has already legally conceded that the statements she made about Richer were false, and the case is now in process to determine how much in damages Richer is owed.
But Lake didn’t mention any of that from the stage on Tuesday, nor did she speak about her opponent in Arizona’s upcoming Republican primary election on July 30, Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb.
Lake, who has enjoyed a substantial lead over him in polls, declined to debate Lamb last month. In the runup to the 2022 election, Lake lambasted Hobbs and called her a “chicken” for refusing to debate Lake.
But Lake did work to align her presumed Democratic opponent in November, U.S. Congressman Ruben Gallego, with the generally unpopular President Joe Biden.
“Americans are waking up to the truth about disastrous Democrat policies,” Lake said.
She called Gallego “Biden’s favorite congressman” and accused Gallego and other Democrats of handing over the control of Arizona’s border to drug cartels and blamed them for the fentanyl overdose deaths of young people in the Grand Canyon State.
“The solutions, guys, are really simple,” Lake said. “First of all, stop the Bidenvasion and build the wall. Easy.”
The crowd quickly followed Lake’s statements with chants of “build the wall,” with Arizona Sen. Janae Shamp, R-Surprise, joining in from the floor.
Lake also accused Gallego of voting to allow undocumented immigrants to vote, something that Gallego’s campaign quickly called a “blatant lie.” Gallego voted against a Republican bill last week that would have required all those voting in federal elections to provide identification proving they are U.S. citizens, which he said would disenfranchise members of the military, college students and Native Americans, who might not have the proper form of identification or be able to easily provide it. It is already illegal, and rare, for noncitizens to vote.
“Kari Lake stood on stage and proved to everyone that she will say anything to get power — including lie to Arizonans to distract from her dangerous plan to ban abortion without exceptions for rape or incest,” Gallego campaign spokesperson Hannah Goss said in a statement.
Lake has made conflicting statements about her stance on abortion, making it unclear what policies she would actually support, if elected to the Senate.
The seat that Lake and Gallego will likely compete for in November is currently held by Democrat-turned-independent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, who chose not to run for reelection.
“We love you all,” Lake told the crowd on Tuesday.
She quickly added that she welcomed everyone in the room at the RNC, except for the news media.
“You guys up there in the fake news have worn out your welcome,” Lake said. “You have spent the last eight years lying about Donald Trump and his amazing patriotic supporters.”
Lake has had a habit of denigrating the news media during the campaign events and press conferences that she invites them to, but the media has been subject to increased scrutiny and criticism following the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump during a campaign event in Pennsylvania on Saturday.
Lake said that while the “fake news” wants Americans to believe they’re split down the middle, and are “at each others’ throats,” they actually have a lot in common.
“If we join together we will make America safe again and make America great again,” Lake said, repeating the theme of the day at the RNC, along with Trump’s slogan.
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