Tuesday, August 6th, 2024
ARIZONA -– Today is the second anniversary of Kari Lake bragging that she “drove a stake through the heart of the McCain machine,” one in a series of disparaging remarks she has made about the late Senator John McCain. The anniversary comes in the wake of Lake’s “very disappointing” primary results and deepening concerns that her power-hungry politics and dangerous agenda will alienate Arizonans yet again this November.
KARI LAKE: ”It is only those of us who have the scars who will be remembered, those of us with the scars of battle, those of us with the scars of persecution, that will make history. We may have won this battle and I won an epic battle in Arizona. We drove a stake through the heart of the McCain machine.”
Read more about what Republicans have said about how Lake’s power-hungry politics are disqualifying:
- In November 2023, Republican Marilyn Rodriguez said of Lake on KJZZ: “She is a lunatic […] But no, I don’t think that Kari Lake is going to trick anyone into believing that she’s anyone other than she who she is.”
- In December 2023, a Republican told Arizona Republic’s Laurie Roberts that Kari Lake’s “charm offensive has turned out to be offensive with no charm.”
- In January 2024, Republican consultant Lorna Romero Ferguson said, “A few months ago, we were talking about how she was making the attempt — and I do this in air quotes — to appeal to a broader audience and more of the moderate, centrist Republicans. This isn’t the way to do it necessarily, with this kind of narrative and these talking points. And so I’m not sure what the long-term strategy is […] I don’t think it’s going to work out for her this upcoming election cycle.”
- In March 2024, Arizona Republicans went on the record saying Lake’s “election denial is not the way to win” and noted she has not “brought over a lot of converts.”
- In April 2024, the Washington Post reported that “GOP senators worry that Lake is not a strong candidate in Arizona … because she has alienated so many center-right and moderate Republicans, and because she continues to espouse the false claims that both the 2020 and 2022 elections were stolen.”
- In May 2024, Politico revealed that Republicans are expressing fresh concern that “Lake’s divisive persona and instinct for provocation could sabotage them yet again.”