Kari Lake didn’t let a CNN reporter get under her skin with loaded questions about what she would have done, or would do, as vice president.
The Arizona Senate candidate sat down for a mainstream media interview as part of a strategy to widen the lens into her campaign, one that will rely on attention from more than just conservative news outlets. However, Lake found out quickly that all CNN wanted to really ask was how she would have handled certifying the 2020 election if she had been President Donald Trump’s veep.
“These are crazy. This is like a hypothetical going forward and a hypothetical going backward. I’m not going to entertain that,” said Lake. “What I will entertain is talking about going forward, and going forward when we get an America First president and some great leadership in the Senate and a majority, we’re going to do great things for the American people.”
Unable to trip up Lake, the reporter continued probing about her stance on how Arizona handled legal challenges to her failed 2022 gubernatorial campaign.
“We had major problems in our election, and we’re really working to resolve those problems. We still have some court cases,” she said.
Lake then swatted away a third attempt to ask her if she had been advised not to talk about the 2020 election and irregularities that President Trump claimed denied him a second term.
“No. The 2020 election, I think it was a rigged election. President Trump… I believe it was,” she added.
While polling is tight, Lake currently leads Congressman Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), her likeliest general election opponent, by 4 points according to Five Thirty Eight. The matchup will take place without incumbent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ), who announced last week that she would not seek another term.
Arizona will play a critical role in determining both control of the White House and Senate. The state has trended blue nationally, with President Joe Biden narrowly winning in 2020 a state that had gone for Trump just four years prior. The Republican frontrunner currently leads Biden by 7 points, a gain that is matched by leads in most other swing states.
Along the southern border, Arizona has also been overrun by illegal crossings that will essentially make this year’s U.S. Senate a referendum on Biden’s handling of the immigration crisis. Lake has confronted Rep. Gallego for failing to support comprehensive border reform and insinuated that his ultimate goal, as with most other Democrats, is to grant citizenship and voting rights to all 9 million recent migrants.
Senate Republicans are banking on a win to gain a majority next year and are coming out to support Lake’s bid. She has benefited from a number of high-profile endorsements and gained national attention following an attempt to force her out of the race by the former head of the Arizona Republican Party.
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