Arizona Republican Kari Lake’s political aptitude is striking fear in the hearts of Democrat operatives who worry she is a “major MAGA star” in the making, Axios reported.
Lake, a former Fox 10 Phoenix anchor who is endorsed by former President Donald J. Trump, cruised to a primary victory over Summer and has risen to national prominence with election day just 23 days away. Her unique ability to communicate and her frequent masterful handling of adversarial media has Democrat strategists shaking, according to Axios’s Jonathan Swan and Alexi McCammond, as she continues to gain momentum over her flailing Democrat opponent, Secretary of State Katie Hobbs.
“If you get a candidate who has the performance skills of a major market local TV anchor and the philosophy and thinking of Steve Bannon, that’s a potent and dangerous combination… Look at Italy,” David Axelrod, a top aide during former President Barack Obama’s administration told Axios.
David Plouffe, Obama’s campaign manager in 2008, asserted that Trump and Obama “accelerated” the importance of being a charismatic candidate and implied Lake, who has no shortage of charisma, is a “plausible presidential candidate.”
“If you’ve got something compelling to say and you can organize a campaign online, you’re a plausible presidential candidate,” he added.
While Democrat strategists are focused on Lake’s political future, the former news anchor has expressed disdain for Washington, DC, and is fully focused on her race against Hobbs, who has created a spectacle of sorts by refusing time and time again to meet Lake on the debate stage. Arizona’s Clean Elections Commission (CEC) attempted to work out a debate between the candidates but ultimately granted Lake a one-on-one interview with Arizona PBS because Hobbs would not debate.
The CEC opted not to give Hobbs her own interview, but the drama continued this week as PBS Arizona decided to give Hobbs her Q&A against the objection of the nonpartisan CEC and the Lake campaign. As a result, the CEC postponed Lake’s interview and announced they would find a new partner to host it.
Lake held a press conference outside of Arizona PBS at Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism on Wednesday and tore into PBS, Hobbs, and the university.
“Unfortunately, I’m running against a coward who’s afraid to stand on the debate stage and talk about what she wants to do for Arizona,” said Lake. “And unfortunately, PBS and ASU have done a backroom deal with that coward to give her airtime that she does not deserve.”
“I need to remind people that it is we, the taxpayers, who own PBS and who own ASU. This is not the DNC that owns this, and what’s going on here is absolutely wrong,” she added.
