Kari Lake, the Republican candidate for Arizona’s gubernatorial race, promised to media members that she would be their “worst freaking nightmare for eight years” if she’s elected, promising that she would “reform the media.”
Lake is a former TV journalist herself and has become known for her frequent barbs against the press. The comment came after a CBS reporter asked whether or not she would serve a full term if elected in response to rumors that she might serve as former President Donald Trump’s running mate should he run for a second term in office in 2024, something that he has heavily hinted at.
“I am going to not only be the governor of Arizona for four years,” she said. “I am going to do two terms. I’m going to be your worst freaking nightmare for eight years, and we will reform the media as well. We are going to make you guys into journalists again.”
She added that she would be “so thrilled” if the former president does make another bid for the presidency, saying that he needed to return to office to fix everything that President Joe Biden had “screwed up.”
Lake clashed with reporters for several minutes after she cast her vote in Phoenix, as others pressed Lake on rhetoric about concern with election integrity. She called her opponent, Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, “incompetent” and reiterated she should have recused herself from overseeing the election.
Lake has repeatedly targeted legacy media on the campaign trail, calling them “monsters” and “fake news” and suggesting that they should be defunded. During her impromptu press conference on Tuesday, she pointed at the crowd of media members, saying she saw several fake news “propagandists.”
Lake’s constant bouts with media have endeared her to conservative supporters, who have often shared clips of her clashing with various journalists or batting away their questions.
She has continually claimed that the 2020 election in Arizona, where Trump was the first Republican presidential candidate in 24 years to lose the state, was fraudulent, something that many media members have focused on.
Hobbs, meanwhile, also took media criticism for refusing to debate Lake during election season in a state where Democrats have not won the governor’s mansion since 2006.
The election and Lake’s comments come just days after her campaign headquarters were forced to shut down on Sunday after her staffers opened an envelope containing a suspicious white powder.
Lake said on Monday that members of the FBI, local law enforcement, fire department and bomb squad responded immediately. Multiple envelopes were retrieved by law enforcement for analysis, but she is unsure of the results thus far.
“We had delivered at our office a couple of envelopes that had white powder in them, one of them our staffer opened up and immediately realized there was a problem with it, threw it in the garbage can and then another staffer grabbed it from the garbage can and then all of a sudden we had several people exposed to it,” Lake said on “Tucker Carlson Tonight.”
The suspicious powder was accompanied by “incredibly vulgar and threatening” letters, Lake revealed.
“We take it as a legitimate threat, but we’re just happy our staffers are okay,” she said, adding that she’s been busy on the campaign trail but has regularly checked up on the health of the exposed staffers.
“So far, so good, but we are counting on the FBI to let us know if we should be concerned of any danger,” she said.
Scroll down to leave a comment and share your thoughts.