For Immediate Release
Friday, Oct. 7th, 2022

Contact: Josselyn Berry, Jberry@azdem.org
Former Arizona Governor Still Refuses To Endorse Kari Lake, Meets With Katie Hobbs Instead

PHOENIX – With less than a month until election day Kari Lake is still failing to consolidate wide GOP support for her campaign and continues only speaking to her far right base. Former Arizona governor Jan Brewer has again said she hasn’t decided she’ll vote for Kari Lake. Brewer went on the Gaydos and Chad Show this week and said she won’t commit to voting for Kari Lake and that Kari Lake continues to snub the former Republican governor. Other high level Republicans are also defecting from Lake, and every day more Republicans are speaking out about their support for Katie Hobbs. Most notably, Former Republican Congresswoman Liz Cheney said recently, “I’m going to do everything I can to make sure Kari Lake is not elected.” Instead Lake continues to associate with unpopular extremists like Ted Cruz and Blake Masters.

“Having a former Republican Governor refuse to endorse you or say she’ll even vote for you should be a red flag for the Lake campaign, but Lake can’t help herself when it comes to tearing apart the Republicans she calls ‘swamp lords’ and ‘RINOs,’” said Josselyn Berry, spokesperson for the Arizona Democratic Party. “It’s clear that Lake has no interest in uniting her party and would rather pander to MAGA extremists. Compare that to Katie Hobbs who actually did cross the political aisle to meet with Governor Brewer and has “and has built a cross-party coalition because she is focused on key issues, like rising cost of living, water and funding education.”

 Read on for the most interesting excerpts: 

• Brewer Meets With Katie Hobbs, Still Snubbed by Kari Lake–Brewer and Kari Lake still haven’t spoken, but she was able to sit down and talk with Katie Hobbs, prompting the radio hosts to say, “So you can’t get a meeting with Kari Lake and you tried to actually get a meeting with Kari Lake, the Republican and she doesn’t want to talk to you. But Katie Hobbs out of nowhere called you and you guys sat down for a meal together.” The hosts went on to say, “I actually liked the fact Katie Hobbs reached out to you. I like that. I’ll tell you why. If she wants to run the state, want to talk to you, you ran the state. She’s not putting politics in front of that. She actually sat down with a Republican and broke bread and had a discussion. Politicians don’t do that.”

• Brewer Criticizes Lake’s Extreme Stance on Abortion and Calls Her Out For Lying about Katie Hobbs–Brewer said she was “speechless” about Lake’s lies that Democrats want abortion “after birth” saying,  “I don’t know where she got her information from.” Brewer also took Lake to task for her lies on abortion, saying  “I thought she didn’t want any exceptions. She better get up there and clarify what it is she means.” Lake recently tripled down on her support for Arizona’s 1901 ban on abortion that is now law.

• Brewer Still Isn’t Sure She’ll Vote for Lake–Brewer said she’s still “on the fence” on if she’ll vote for Lake.Brewer has come out in the past against Lake. On a previous Gaydos and Chad Show, Brewer said that despite her efforts, she and Lake have not met, and that she was “a little disappointed” that Lake has made no attempts to do so. She went on to say Lake “sort of indicated she didn’t really want to talk to me, or sit down and discuss some of the issues.” When asked if she was planning to endorse Lake, Brewer said, “You don’t endorse somebody that doesn’t ask for your endorsement.” This also comes after Brewer laid out her terms for endorsement that Lake would have to “promise…to prioritize policy and tell the truth about elections.”

Here’s What Members of Her Own Party Have Said About Kari Lake:

• Governor Doug Ducey went on CNN and said, “Kari Lake is misleading voters with no evidence. She’s been tagged by her opponents with a nickname, Fake Lake, which seems to be sticking and actually doing some damage.”

• Former Republican Congresswoman Liz Cheney, said she would campaign against election deniers, singling out Republican gubernatorial nominees in Arizona and Pennsylvania. “I’m going to do everything I can to make sure Kari Lake is not elected,” Cheney said at the closing night of the Texas Tribune Festival in Austin.

• Tyler Montague, another Republican Consultant said, “If she wins, the GOP loses–either immediately in the election, or over the long term from all the damage she could cause by being a crazy conspiracy theorist.”

• Former Primary Opponent Karrin Taylor Robson called Kari Lake “fake,” “disqualifying,” a “fraud” and a “hypocrite.”