Failed Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake has stepped up her racism in the final weeks of her Arizona Senate campaign by going on Newsmax to spout the baseless claim that her opponent, Democrat Ruben Gallego, is connected to Colombian drug cartels.
Lake, who trails Gallego in every poll, falsely suggested Gallego is not serious about confronting cartels and that he will not work to secure the border in Arizona:
"I want to confront the cartels. He was controlled by the cartels. His own father was a Colombian drag trafficker. He’s got links to the cartel, and that is very concerning."
You can hear what she said in the video below.
Lake's words were intended to connect Gallego to Colombia's drug trade, one of the most expansive in the world and responsible for a long history of violence and political confict. Gallego is Mexican on his father's side and Colombian on his mother's side, so to say this is a racist dog whistle is an understatement.
And for those who don't know, she previously referred to Gallego as “Biden’s favorite congressman” and accused him, along with other Democrats, of surrendering control of Arizona’s border to drug cartels. She also blamed them for the fentanyl overdose deaths among young people in the Grand Canyon State.
Lake was swiftly called out.
In September, 11 polls of likely Arizona voters showed Gallego ahead in all of them by margins between 4 and 14 points. Overall, he has led in 45 out of 48 polls conducted since Kyrsten Sinema, a former Democrat who became an Independent, announced she would not seek reelection.
While campaigning for this year’s election, Lake continues to contest the results of her 2022 election challenge, which she has lost at every level of the Arizona court system. The Arizona Supreme Court has sanctioned her lawyers for making false claims in legal filings regarding illegal ballots counted in Maricopa County in 2022. One of her attorneys was recently suspended from practicing law for 60 days due to this misconduct.
Additionally, Lake is facing a defamation lawsuit filed in June 2023 by Republican Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer, who accused her of falsely claiming he deliberately sabotaged the 2022 election.
Lake has already legally conceded that her statements about Richer were untrue, and the case is currently underway to determine the amount of damages Richer is entitled to receive.
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