Former Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, a Republican, says she’ll only endorse Kari Lake, the party’s 2022 nominee, if she stops lying about the 2020 election being “stolen” (see story here).
That condition is a dealbreaker; Lake can’t stop peddling Trump’s election lies.
She can’t because she built her campaign on that lie. She wouldn’t anyway, because she’s fallen too far down a rabbit hole of conspiracy theories to climb out.
I don’t live in Arizona, so I’m no authority on its politics, but Brewer is skeptical Lake can “pivot from appealing to hardcore Trump voters to winning over swing voters in a state that has been trending blue,” as Raw Story puts it. Brewer continues, “She went so far to the right that I don’t know if she can recover. And if she can’t, we’ll have a Democratic governor.” I’ll just take her word for it.
Raw Story notes Arizona GOP primary voters “nominated a trifecta of election deniers,” referring to Lake, U.S. Senate candidate Blake Masters, and Mark Finchem for Arizona secretary of state. Masters and Finchem face Democratic incumbents. And while Brewer didn’t say it, GOP voters having nominated these grotesque candidates, Democrats could run the table in Arizona.
In the aftermath of the near-riot at Maricopa County’s election office (video below), some Arizona Republican officials criticized the GOP governor for certifying the 2020 election, which was required by law. Lake has said if she’s elected governor, she won’t certify the 2024 election for anyone but Trump, which is illegal. That’s probably a big part of what got her the nomination.
Let’s say she does win the November election and becomes governor. If she’s true to her word, a federal judge may certify Arizona’s 2024 election. It’s better for Arizona to avoid that by voting carefully this fall.