To:                Interested Parties
From:           Josselyn Berry, JBerry@AZDem.org
Re:               Republican Warning Signs Flash in Lake’s Race
Date:            September 19th, 2022 
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TOPLINE: Republican Warning Signs Flash In Kari Lake’s Race As Katie Hobbs Amasses Support From All Backgrounds
 

With Arizona’s early voting period beginning in less than a month and Election Day less than two months away, more Arizona Republicans are standing up and saying no to Kari Lake and her dangerous, out-of-touch ideas. Instead, more Independents and Republicans are swinging over to support Katie Hobbs and her plan to tackle Arizona’s pressing issues. Lake has been attacking and dividing her own party from day one, calling her fellow Republicans “swamp lords” and “RINOs.” And they certainly haven’t had kind words for her either, with one Republican consultant saying, “She’s a danger to Republicans losing the gubernatorial race for the first time in 16 years.” 

Lake still hasn’t earned the endorsement of any former Arizona Governors, including  former Governor Jan Brewer. This comes on the tail of Katie Hobbs announcing the support of prominent Arizona Republicans who are backing her campaign over Lake’s. Across Arizona, a growing community of conservatives are taking a stand to keep Lake from turning the governor’s office into chaos and lawlessness and to make sure Arizona moves forward under Katie Hobbs. 

Key Takeaways: 

Lake Drives A Stake into Heart of Arizona GOP–A growing number of credible, respected Republicans have come out against Kari Lake, and even former Arizona Governor Jan Brewer has refused to endorse her. Kari Lake’s post-primary call for Republican unity lasted about as long as it took for her to turn around and dig a knife into the back of the Arizona GOP. She immediately abandoned Arizonans in favor of joining her fellow conspiracy theorists at a MAGA megaconference in Texas and she’s been rallying with fellow extremists like Ron SeSantis, Blake Masters and Mark Finchem. Notable Republicans Rebecca Gau and Lisa Hoberg penned an op-ed, “Here’s why Arizona’s Republican women should vote for Hobbs.” On top of that, recent polling by Fox News shows Lake is deeply unpopular and Republicans and Independent pollsters both continue to raise red flags about Lake’s flailing campaign. So many Republicans are shunning Lake and joining Hobbs that her campaign launched a Republicans for Katie Hobbs coalition. 

Lake Barrels Full Steam Ahead on Her Dangerous Abortion Stances–Recent reporting has revealed that the RGA has been convening governors and top anti-abortion groups on how to implement draconian restrictions at the state level, effectively instituting a national abortion ban. As Lindsay Graham unveiled this radical plan to push a nationwide ban on abortion, Kari Lake has been consistently doubling down on her support for an all-out ban on abortion. During a fact check of a TV ad, 12 News was able to “verify” Lake’s support for the 1901 abortion ban as the Lake campaign proudly stood by her uncompromising stance. Unlike other candidates trying to hide their extreme positions, Lake has branded herself as the anti-choice, anti-abortion candidate in her campaign for governor. The most recent example came in a tweet where Lake referred to people who seek abortion care as “executioners.” Lake has even said abortion is “murder”. As the Arizona Republic reported, “Lake has not budged from her staunch opposition to abortion,” despite a majority of Arizonans supporting access to abortion and it becoming a top issue in this election. 

Lake is MIA on TV While Hobbs Gets Her Message Across Arizona–As the Hobbs campaign spends millions of dollars to reach voters across the state, Lake has been MIA when it comes to TV and digital advertising for her campaign in the general election. The campaign admitted it’s spent no money on any television or digital paid media. Even in the Phoenix media market where Republicans are advertising, the Hobbs campaign and the Arizona Democratic Party are out-communicating them more than 2:1 and Hobbs is outspending  Lake at a ratio of roughly 6-1 on digital paid media. 

Lake Continues to Hide from Local Press and Arizonans in Favor of MAGA-Friendly Audiences–With every appearance on far right YouTube channels and fringe podcasts like now indicted-Steve Bannon’s War Room, Kari Lake continues to prove she has no interest in talking to everyday Arizonans or addressing the critical issues facing our state. Instead, Lake continues to insult and ignore legitimate media and Arizonans in favor of appearing only on friendly MAGA media like OANN and Sebastian Gorka’s show. Lake has also repeatedly referred to the Arizona Republic as the “Repugnant” and insulted local reporters like Brahm Resnick. Meanwhile Hobbs has been touring the state talking to voters and press alike. 

Lake Spews Steady Stream of Election Lies– Since launching her campaign, Lake has aggressively spewed a steady stream of election lies and after recently losing a lawsuit against Secretary Hobbs to force hand-count ballots only this election day she is doubling down by appealing the case which will surely result in another conspiracy failure. Lake has consistently and falsely claimed the 2020 election was “stolen” and “corrupt.” At the GOP primary debate, Lake claimed that the right-wing and fraudulent 2020 election audit was proof the election was rigged, and defended the right-wing propaganda film, “2,000 Mules.”  In the days leading up to the primary election, Lake warned that something was going very wrong. “We’re already detecting some stealing going on,” Lake said at a campaign stop the week before the election. Hours before the polls closed, she hadn’t changed her tune, saying “If we don’t win, there’s some cheating going on. And we already know that.” After she was declared the winner however, Lake dropped all talk of fraud. Lake has also said of Biden: “He lost the election, and he shouldn’t be in the White House.” Lake has also readily indicated that she’ll refuse to concede the 2022 Arizona election. During a July event with Mark Finchem, Lake agreed that she’ll refuse to concede the election if she loses and went on to say Trump didn’t concede, which she thinks was “really smart.”

Have You Seen This Man? Doug Ducey has largely been MIA since his tepid endorsement of Kari Lake. The two GOP “unity” rallies that have been held failed to mention Ducey or even invite him. At the Turning Points USA rally, Lake spent her time praising Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, while saying nothing about Arizona’s own Republican governor. Ducey won’t even talk to the press about Lake.​​ When asked about meeting with Lake, Ducey refused to answer the question, saying, “”I’m down here today to talk border security.”