After losing to Democratic challenger Katie Hobbs, failed Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake is being dragged by Republican officials and campaign strategists for blowing a “winnable” race. The major source of contention: Lake’s deference to Donald Trump and her refusal to ease up on pushing his election fraud lies.
According to insiders speaking to the Washington Post, Lake was frequently counseled to pull back on her “extremist rhetoric,” but she refused to listen to state officials who believe her allegiance to Trump cost her the election. Via Raw Story:
“Advisers wanted her to focus less on Trump’s false claims of voter fraud and more on homelessness, water independence and border security, according to people familiar with their counsel. Business leaders recommended that she tone down her MAGA message to create a friendlier climate for capital. Republican strategists asked her to stop denigrating early ballots, a method of voting once critical to Republican victories in the state.”
Direct appeals to Lake reportedly did not go well. “She would never break frame,” an Arizona Republican told the Post. “She’d sort of look at you with a puzzled face and be like, ‘But the election was stolen in 2020.'”
Others are now saying Lake’s campaign was doomed from the start.
“It was both a collapse and, now in hindsight, it was a failed campaign from the beginning,” another GOP official said. “I don’t really know what to say beyond outrageous arrogance and never getting out of primary mode. This election wasn’t stolen. It was given away.”
Like Trump, Lake has refused to concede the election, but unlike Trump, she has yet to gin up enough support to stage her own mini January 6. In late November, she pleaded with supporters to literally get themselves arrested in an effort to stop the election results from being certifying. She has not had many takers if any at all.
(Via Washington Post)