Arizona Republican gubernatorial nominee Kari Lake claimed on Monday that her campaign had raised over $500,000 since outgoing Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) recently attempted to derail it in an “anti-endorsement” effort.
Cheney targeted Lake and Republican candidate for Arizona’s secretary of state Rep. Mark Finchem in a 30-second ad in which she urged voters to reject the two candidates because “they’ll only honor the results of an election if they agree with it.”
Speaking on Fox News’ “Tucker Carlson Tonight” on Monday, Lake said the outgoing GOP congresswoman has now officially become her “biggest fundraiser” to date.
“We raised a half a million dollars since she did the anti-endorsement, and people are still flocking to our website, karilake.com, and donating. It has been an incredible boom for us in fundraising. So I have to extend a big thank you to Liz,” Lake said, adding that at this rate, her campaign should consider inviting Cheney “to our inaugural ball because we have to thank her for bringing in so much fundraising money for us.”
When Carlson asked Lake to describe her view on Cheney’s repeated attempts to obstruct her campaign, the Republican front-runner for Arizona governor stated that she believes it’s over the same reason legacy media has been attacking her; for “speaking the truth.”
“You can’t talk about [COVID-19] vaccines, you can’t talk about elections, you can’t talk about Paul Pelosi … and I am talking about all those things because I still believe we have a little bit of the First Amendment left,” she said.
Cheney has previously stated that she’s “going to do everything” in her power to “make sure Kari Lake is not elected” because Lake publicly questioned the legitimacy of President Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election.
“If you care about the survival of our republic, we cannot give people power who will not honor elections,” Cheney said in a statement on a multi-candidate political action committee attacking the GOP nominees for governor and secretary of state.
Lake, a former television anchor who is actively campaigning against Democrat Katie Hobbs in the race for Arizona governor, leads in a recent FOX 10 InsiderAdvantage news poll 54–43 percent as the nation’s overall political mood appears to be tilting more in Republicans’ favor in the lead-up to the Nov. 8 midterm elections.
“In fact, my team tells me your commercial should add another 10 points to our lead!” Lake said mockingly in a letter responding to Cheney’s effort to derail her campaign. “I guess that’s why they call the Cheney anti-endorsement the gift that keeps on giving.”
Matt Towery, who was among those conducting the InsiderAdvantage poll, believes Hobbs’s reluctance to participate in a debate against Lake may be contributing to the widening gap between the two in recent weeks.
In early September, Hobbs’s campaign office announced that the Democratic candidate won’t participate in a debate against Lake as the two vie to be Arizona’s next governor.
The refusal stems from displeasure with how the commission ran primary debates. Hobbs’s campaign pointed to news articles that called the GOP primary debate “pure chaos” and having “near-constant interruptions.”