EXCLUSIVE — Arizona Republican Senate candidate Kari Lake likened Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley to chihuahuas at former President Donald Trump‘s heels and criticized Gov. Kim Reynolds (R-IA) for endorsing DeSantis over Trump, days before the 2024 Republican primary‘s opening contest in Iowa.
Lake, who is campaigning for front-runner Trump before next Monday’s caucuses, made the comments as she scruntized his opponents DeSantis and Haley for spending millions of dollars on advertisements promoting their own bids.
“This is just vanity projects,” Lake told the Washington Examiner on Friday in Des Moines. “They know they can’t beat President Trump, and they’re trying to nip at his ankles. It’s like a little chihuahua dog that is [biting] at his ankles. It is such a waste of money and energy.”
Lake’s scheduled event Friday in nearby Pella was canceled as a once-in-a-decade weather event brings blizzard conditions, including below-zero temperatures, to Iowa. Instead, the 2022 Arizona Republican gubernatorial nominee courted Trump voters in person in the state’s capital, in addition to taking part in tele-rallies, as the former president will also do this weekend. He will now only appear in Indianola, scrapping three other rallies.
Lake amplified Trump’s belief that the weather will benefit his campaign despite his reliance on older, more rural caucusgoers, who may be more predisposed to stay at home. She, too, dismissed concerns about the ground game of the former president’s campaign, contending he had traveled to Iowa many times. In conversations with the Washington Examiner, likely caucusgoers report being contacted more by DeSantis’s team compared to that of the onetime commander in chief.
“These are people who would crawl across broken glass to vote for President Trump or, in this case, go out in a blizzard,” she said. “Maybe not every voter has been called, but every voter has had a chance to see President Trump speak. He’s been here many, many times and put on some high-energy events. I think he’s reached more voters than the other candidates combined because of his staying power and his ability to draw a big crowd.”
Lake, who was speculated to be a vice presidential prospect before Trump said this week he had already made his decision, downplayed the possibility, chastising reporters for not covering the border or President Joe Biden‘s wars instead.
“I don’t think it’s all that important who he picks,” she said. “I’m not really wasting my time and energy thinking about it.”
Lake similarly undermined Reynolds for endorsing DeSantis over Trump and Sen. Krysten Sinema (I-AZ), who has not declared whether she will seek reelection this November against the likes of Lake and Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ).
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“I was disappointed in that because one of the things that I think Iowans value is loyalty,” Lake said of Reynolds. “President Trump is a forgiving guy, and he’ll welcome her support. Obviously, I’m sure he wishes he had it sooner, but I think, eventually, she’ll figure out the direction this country is going in.”
“If [Sinema] runs, I don’t believe she can win,” she added. “She’s going to have an uphill battle because she’s going to have to collect something like 45,000 or 47,000 signatures just to get her name on the ballot as an independent, so she’s going to have to announce relatively soon in order to get that going. That’s going to be a lot of work to do. We’ll see what happens. I’m prepared to run against her and Ruben or against just Ruben.”
