At a Tuesday campaign rally, U.S. Senate candidate Kari Lake attacked her Democratic opponent, Ruben Gallego, implying he will probably have substantial financial backing and making a negative comment about his appearance on television.
Democrats would “take in a ton of money from God knows where and God knows who, and he’s going to run ads making himself look like a just middle-of-the-road kind of guy,” Lake predicted on a day when Gallego’s campaign revealed it had raised an astounding $7.5 million in the previous three months. Furthermore, that is not at all accurate.
“He’s going to stay out of any types of debates or anything like that. He’s not going to come out and talk. He’s just going to do these commercials and try to trick the people of Arizona.”
This line of attack was launched after Lake mocked Gov. Katie Hobbs for declining to debate her in their 2022 bid for governor and because she has not replied to an invitation to debate Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb, who is also a candidate for the GOP nomination.
In Sun City West, Lake gave her evaluation of Gallego to a group of about one hundred people. She did so in the presence of U.S. Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., the head of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, which has the potential to contribute significantly financially to the contest.
Lake has already received the support of Daines and the Republican Senatorial Committee over Lamb. They are all competing for the seat held by U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz., who is retiring, along with Gallego.
“Let me be clear: We win Arizona, we win the United States Senate,” Daines stated. “We’re counting on you, Arizona. … Let me tell you something, she’s not running against an astronaut. She’s not running against Kyrsten Sinema. She’s running against a true radical, far-left activist. He really is. He believes in open borders. He doesn’t believe in the wall. He is absolutely one of the furthest left candidates across the entire nation on U.S. Senate races.”
The objective of the gathering was to demonstrate to Daines the level of support that Lake enjoys in Arizona as well as to Arizona voters that national Republicans completely support Lake’s candidacy. About half of the Republican senators in Washington, as well as the former president Donald Trump, have already endorsed her.
The game placed Lake on sparsely populated yet friendly ground.
In an otherwise close loss to Governor Katie Hobbs, Lake garnered almost 60% of the votes in the precincts that included Sun City West. How Lake is perceived by less ardent Republicans is less evident.
For one thing, Lamb’s team was in favor of debates during the Senate contest.
“Our campaign is funded by hundreds of thousands of grassroots donors who are chipping in what they can to elect Ruben Gallego and defeat anti-abortion, election denier Kari Lake,” A campaign representative Hannah Goss stated. “Today, while Kari Lake flies to Mar-a-Lago, Ruben is crossing northern Arizona, meeting tribal and rural voters to discuss the issues that matter most to them. That contrast is exactly why Ruben will win in November.”
Daines and Lake addressed international relations, the border with Mexico, and economic concerns during a session in which they responded to questions written on cards. If President Joe Biden is granted a another four years in office, both exchanged dire predictions for the United States.
Lake claimed that Trump was significantly more adept than Biden in handling foreign issues, even war-related ones.
“I support the way that President Trump handled things on the world stage because we actually had peace under President Trump and now under Joe Biden we’re on the verge of World War III, if we’re not already in it,” she stated.
“The reason the world right now is more dangerous is because we have a weak commander in chief in Joe Biden,” Daines stated.
He then noted the Chinese balloon that drifted over his home state of Montana and China’s stock of intercontinental ballistic missiles.
“The Chinese looked at that. What did Biden do? Nothing. That wasn’t a trial balloon. The Chinese sent over a test of Joe Biden’s resolve and he failed.”
To combat the effects of inflation, Lake and Daines both advocated for increased energy consumption from fossil fuels. Lake said that she was in favor of nuclear power.
On Wednesday, Lake is set to host a fundraiser at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Florida, with the backing of prominent conservatives including comedian Roseanne Barr and Trump political advisor Roger Stone.
