Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday endorsed Kari Lake to be Arizona’s next governor, saying in a statement Lake will “will fight to restore Election Integrity (both past and future!).”
Lake is a former Fox 10 anchor who left journalism earlier this year shortly before announcing her run for the Republican nomination for governor. She has embraced Trump’s wing of the Republican party and is the only candidate for governor to explicitly say she believes Trump won Arizona in 2020, despite no evidence to support that claim.
“Few can take on the Fake News Media like Kari,” the statement from Trump reads, touting that the former journalist will protect the border and Second Amendment and end “woke” curriculum in schools. Lake is “strong on Crime” and will protect the military and veterans and opposes COVID lockdowns and cancel culture, the statement says.
The endorsement furthers Trump’s pattern of rewarding candidates who are loyal to his unsubstantiated claims that last year’s election was stolen from him. His endorsement, and support of his followers, could pay off for Lake in the crowded Republican primary in August.
Gov. Doug Ducey, a Republican who drew Trump’s ire after Ducey certified that Joe Biden won the election, is term-limited and cannot run for office again next year. He leaves an open seat in a state widely seen as shifting politically, but one where GOP candidates still court Trump’s support.
Trump used his endorsement of Lake to take another shot at Ducey, calling him a “Republican in name only,” or RINO.
“She will do a far better job than RINO Governor Doug Ducey — won’t even be a contest!” the statement reads. “Kari will make her wonderful family, and the (Make America Great Again) movement, very proud. Kari Lake has my Complete and Total Endorsement.”
One of Arizona’s other notable Trump allies, Rep. Mark Finchem, an Oro Valley Republican, was the first Arizona politician to receive Trump’s endorsement in the 2022 election cycle. Finchem is running for secretary of state, a post where the job description includes overseeing elections. He was outside the Capitol in Washington, D.C., during the Jan. 6 riot, and has called for overturning the state’s election results.
In many ways, Lake’s campaign echoes that of Trump’s successful bid for the White House in 2016. She has never held elected office, is outspoken on social media, regularly takes on the media and has portrayed herself as a political outsider intent on cleaning out the establishment “swamp.”
Lake said she was inspired by Trump “and what he’s done for this country.”
“My commitment to the great people of this state is to always put Arizona First, just as he put America First,” Lake said in a statement released by her campaign.
Candidates react to endorsement
In a testament to the power of a Trump endorsement in Arizona politics, Lake’s opponents quickly reacted to the former president’s announcement.
Katie Hobbs, the secretary of state who is seeking the…
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