For Immediate Release
June 9th, 2022
Contact: Josselyn Berry| jberry@azdem.org
As January 6th Hearings Get Underway, Where Do GOP Gubernatorial Candidates Stand Now?
PHOENIX–January 6th, 2021 was a shameful day in American history that showcased the natural endpoint to months of Republicans falsely shouting that the 2020 election was stolen. More than a year after that attack, today marks the first hearing by the House select committee on the January 6th insurrection, making it an ideal moment to recall what Kari Lake and Karrin Taylor Robson have said–and haven’t said, on the insurrection and 2020 election.
“With the January 6th hearings underway, it’s time Karrin Taylor Robson came clean about what she actually thinks about the January 6th attack on our democracy,” said Josselyn Berry, spokesperson for the Arizona Democratic Party. “As a candidate running for governor, she owes it to be honest with voters. Does she believe that Biden is our President, as he rightly is, or does she agree with the MAGA fringe that the 2020 election was stolen? Kari Lake has no problem vocalizing how she’s on board with this conspiracy, so why is Robson being so dodgy?”
There’s no misunderstanding Kari Lake’s position on the 2020 election:
Kari Lake wrongly says January 6th defendants are in prison without charges
In a bungled March 13, 2022 interview with 60 Minutes Australia, Lake falsely claimed, “people are being held in prison without being charged. That’s un-American.”
Kari Lake claims she’s the only candidate for governor calling for and demanding decertification
In a September 13th, 2021 tweet, Lake says “I am the ONLY candidate for AZ Governor calling for and demanding decertification, if audit shows Trump won.” Spoiler alert: It showed Biden won.
Kari Lake says she would not have certified Joe Biden’s 2020 victory in Arizona if she was governor.
In a July 28, 2021 interview with OANN, when asked how she would have handled the certification of the 2020 election, Lake said, “I would not have certified it.”
For her part, Karrin Taylor Robson has been trying to have it both ways when it comes to 2020 election conspiracies:
Robson refuses to answer
At the launch of her campaign in May 2021, Robson refused to answer questions from the Arizona Mirror about the conspiracy theories around the 2020 presidential election, or if she believes Joe Biden was legitimately elected.
Ok now she has an answer
Robson has been trying to dodge giving an honest answer on what she thinks about the 2020 election, but finally caved. In a May 5th, 2022 article from the New York Times, Robson is quoted saying, “Joe Biden may be the president, but the election wasn’t fair.”
Robson blames the media for Biden winning
In a statement she released on Arizona’s 2020 election “audit,” Robson claims she was the first candidate for governor to support the audit and then blames “liberals in the mainstream media and Big Tech” for silencing conservative voices.