Kari Lake

Kari Lake (born August 23, 1969) is an American politician and former television news journalist. After working at Phoenix television station KSAZ-TV for twenty-two years, she stepped down from her anchor role in March 2021.[1]

Kari Lake
Personal details
Born (1969-08-23) August 23, 1969
Illinois, U.S.
Political partyRepublican (before 2006,
2012–present)
Other political
affiliations		Independent (2006–2008)
Democratic (2008–2012)
Spouse(s)
Jeff Lake
​
(m. 1998)​
Children2
EducationUniversity of Iowa (BA)

Lake is a Republican candidate in the 2022 Arizona gubernatorial election. She is politically aligned with Donald Trump, who has endorsed her.[2] During her campaign, she has made numerous false claims about the 2020 presidential election in which Trump was only the second Republican to lose Arizona since 1948.[3] She has called for imprisoning Arizona secretary of state Katie Hobbs on baseless and unspecified allegations of criminality related to the 2020 election; Hobbs is also a candidate for governor in 2022.[4] Lake has been endorsed by far-right conspiracy theorists such as Arizona congressman Paul Gosar, former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, and has appeared with a Nazi sympathizer and QAnon-linked activists at campaign events.[5]

Early life and education

Lake was born in Illinois and grew up in Iowa with nine siblings. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in communications and journalism from the University of Iowa.[6]

Career

Lake worked as an anchor for KSAZ-TV (Fox 10 Phoenix) and in other anchor, weather and reporter roles for locations in Illinois and New York.[7] She interviewed President Barack Obama in 2016 and President Donald Trump in 2020.[8] She resigned from Fox 10 in 2021, and later appeared in a video for PragerU, a Republican-aligned YouTube channel.[9][10]

Lake was a member of the Republican Party until November 3, 2006, [11] when she changed her registration to become an independent. She registered as a Democrat on January 4, 2008, the day after the Iowa Democratic presidential caucuses were won by Obama.[11] Lake returned to being a Republican on January 31, 2012. She explained her leaving the Republican Party in 2006 as a reaction to the then-ongoing Iraq and Afghanistan wars. She had supported John Kerry in 2004 and Obama in 2008.[11]

2022 gubernatorial run
Main article: 2022 Arizona gubernatorial election
Lake at a campaign event in Scottsdale, Arizona, July 5, 2021

Lake filed paperwork on June 1, 2021 to run for governor of Arizona in the 2022 election.[12] Previously that year, she purchased an account on Gab, a social media platform known for its use by right-wing extremists.[13] During the campaign, she aligned herself with former President Donald Trump.[14] She falsely claimed that Trump won Arizona in the 2020 election.[15] Trump subsequently endorsed her, saying Lake "will fight to restore Election Integrity (both past and future!)."[16] She attended events headed by the "My Pillow Guy" Mike Lindell, a prominent promoter of false claims regarding fraud in the 2020 election.[14] During her 2021 campaign for governor, she said that she would not have certified the 2020 election results if she had been governor at the time.[17]

In August 2021, Lake led anti-mask rallies,[14] calling on Arizona State University students to violate the university's mask requirement policy.[14] Lake said she would not tolerate mask requirements and vaccine requirements during the COVID-19 pandemic.[18] The Phoenix New Times reported in November 2021 that Lake had told a private audience of Republican retirees that she was taking hydroxychloroquine to prevent COVID-19 infection. She stated that, as governor, she would work to have the drug and ivermectin produced in the state to "make it easier for us to get these lifesaving drugs." Despite numerous studies, neither substance has been shown to be effective in treating or curing COVID-19.[19][20]

Political positions

Lake identifies as a conservative Republican,[21] and in 2021, attended the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), an annual meeting of conservatives, mostly Republicans. Prior to running for office, she made several donations to Democratic presidential candidates, and she confirmed that she voted for then-candidate Barack Obama in 2008.[22][21] In 2018, she opposed the 'Red for Ed' movement, which sought more funding for education through strikes and protests, claiming that movement was a "big push to legalize pot."[23] Describing her position on abortion, Lake described herself as "pro-life" or anti-abortion.[24]

Lake has made several false assertions that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from Trump. She falsely claimed president Joe Biden did not receive 81 million votes. After the 2021 Maricopa County presidential ballot audit found no proof of election fraud, she demanded the election be decertified—a legal impossibility. She endorsed a false assertion by Trump spokeswoman Liz Harrington that Democrats use mail-in ballots to rig elections. Lake tweeted quotes made by Sidney Powell on Lou Dobbs Tonight falsely asserting there was a sweeping election fraud conspiracy. She has advocated imprisoning Arizona secretary of state Katie Hobbs on baseless and unspecified allegations of criminality related to the 2020 election; Hobbs is a declared candidate in the Arizona governor's race in 2022. Lake has also called for the imprisonment of unspecified journalists for allegedly reporting unspecified lies about the 2020 election and other matters.[25]

Personal life

Lake has been married to Jeff Halperin since 1998. They have two children.

References
  1. Goodykoontz, Bill. "Why longtime Fox 10 news anchor Kari Lake is leaving the Phoenix station after 22 years". The Arizona Republic.
  2. Schwarz, D. Hunter (October 15, 2021). "How a mainstream news anchor became Trump's pick for Arizona governor". Deseret News.
  3. Anita Snow and Jonathan J. Cooper (November 4, 2020). "Former GOP stronghold of Arizona hands big wins to Democrats". Associated Press.
  4. Dale, Daniel (October 16, 2021). "Fact-checking Kari Lake, serial promoter of election lies and early frontrunner in GOP primary for Arizona governor". CNN. Retrieved October 17, 2021.
  5. Em Steck; Andrew Kaczynski (November 4, 2021). "Trump-endorsed gubernatorial candidate appears with Nazi sympathizer and QAnon-linked activists at campaign events". CNN.
  6. "Haute Secrets Phoenix: Kari Lake". Haute Living. November 8, 2010. Retrieved June 15, 2021.
  7. Dague, Ed (September 3, 2007). "Last Week". Ed Dague. Retrieved June 15, 2021.
  8. "Videos". Fox 10 Phoenix.
  9. "Emmy Award-Winning News Anchor Quits: 'Haven't Felt Proud to Be Member of Media,' 'Don't Like Direction It's Going'". CNSNews.com. March 2, 2021. Retrieved June 15, 2021.
  10. Crowder, John (June 6, 2021). "PragerU Video – Kari Lake: Why I Quit My Job as a News Anchor". Pocatello-Chubbuck Observer. Retrieved June 15, 2021.
  11. Resnik, Brahm (June 18, 2021). "Before she embraced Donald Trump, Kari Lake signed on with Democrats as Barack Obama's fortunes soared". KPNX.
  12. Oxford, Andrew (June 1, 2021). "Another GOP candidate jumps into governor's race: Former TV anchor Kari Lake files paperwork to run". The Arizona Republic.
  13. Baxter, Erasmus. "Not On TV, Kari Lake Is Active on Site for Right-Wingers, Nazis". Phoenix New Times. Retrieved August 28, 2021.
  14. "'Take the mask and shove it': Kari Lake leads anti-mask rally at ASU. Here are 5 takeaways". 12news.com. Retrieved August 28, 2021.
  15. "'It's spreading': Phony election fraud conspiracies infect midterms". Politico. Retrieved September 20, 2021.
  16. Barchenger, Stacey. "Kari Lake gets coveted endorsement from former President Trump in Arizona governor's race". The Arizona Republic. Retrieved September 29, 2021.
  17. Berman, Ari. "Trump's candidate for Arizona governor says she would not have certified Biden's victory". Mother Jones. Retrieved October 3, 2021.
  18. "Kari Lake is trying to make the jump from TV news to governor of Arizona. Can she do it?". KNXV. August 10, 2021. Retrieved August 28, 2021.
  19. Schwenk, Katya (November 23, 2021). "Kari Lake Says She's Taking Hydroxychloroquine to Ward Off COVID-19". Phoenix New Times.
  20. Funke, Daniel (August 13, 2021). "Fact check: Ivermectin is not a proven treatment for COVID-19". USA Today.
  21. "Before she embraced Donald Trump, she signed on with Democrats as Barack Obama's fortunes soared". 12news.com. June 18, 2021. Retrieved October 3, 2021.
  22. Welch, Dennis. "Kari Lake defends donating to Democratic presidential candidates". AZFamily. Retrieved October 4, 2021.
  23. Longhi, Lorraine. "Local news anchor Kari Lake apologizes for tweet that #RedForEd is cover to legalize pot". The Arizona Republic. Retrieved October 4, 2021.
  24. "Interview: Arizona Governor Hopeful Kari Lake on Her Faith, Media Bias, and Why She's Running". Tennessee Star. June 24, 2021. Retrieved October 4, 2021.
  25. Dale, Daniel (October 16, 2021). "Fact-checking Kari Lake, serial promoter of election lies and early frontrunner in GOP primary for Arizona governor". CNN. Retrieved October 17, 2021.
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