Candidate for the Senate Kari Lake ambiguously linked illegal immigration to the rising cost of housing in Arizona during a campaign event on Tuesday morning, addressing higher profile policy issues including Lake’s shifting rhetoric on abortion.
Lake, the top Republican Senate frontrunner, appeared to downplay Arizona’s recently enforced strict 1864 abortion ban, telling people, “You can go three hours this way, three hours that way, and then you can have an abortion.” undergo. “
Lake was scheduled to discuss housing affordability with Jason Mitchell, a real estate agent.
In recent years, Arizona’s already rising cost of housing has risen sharply. In 2022, the state had the 18th highest ‘household wage’ required to rent a two-bedroom apartment. In 2023, it rose to No. 12, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition’s latest Out of Reach report.
Lake gestured broadly to the issue of illegal immigration, the linchpin of her campaign, to explain that trend.
“We don’t have enough housing for the people who are here. Now we have 9 to 12 million. That adds additional pressure to the system,” Lake told dozens of people at Mitchell’s Scottsdale office, referring to the estimated number of undocumented immigrants in the US.
Immigration is one of the factors that can influence the price of housing in American cities. Economists disagree about why housing is so expensive, but many see shortages in housing supply or corporate ownership of the housing stock as the biggest contributing factors.
In an interview before the event, Mitchell said he doesn’t believe illegal immigration drives up the cost of buying a home. He said it is likely that immigrants drive up rental costs because they, like other residents, place a strain on the rental supply.
“The less supply of something there is, the more expensive it becomes. That’s just basic economics,” Mitchell said.
On stage, Lake and Mitchell lamented the crime committed by undocumented immigrants in Scottsdale, one of the wealthier cities in the Phoenix area. Police have told local media that burglaries in Scottsdale have dropped overall in recent years, although this year saw a well-publicized pattern of thefts that police say were committed by South American immigrants.
“Frankly, the only way to save our homeland is to send these people back to their homeland,” Lake said.
Mitchell, Lake’s interlocutor, runs a company that promotes itself online as a luxury real estate company that sells homes to clients such as retired former Phoenix Suns player Eddie Johnson. In an interview, Mitchell said the company’s average purchase price is about $470,000, not much higher than the statewide average price.
Mitchell has argued that simply building more housing will not solve the problem. Instead, he has advocated using taxes to deter wealthy investors from buying up large numbers of homes, which politicians on both the left and right say takes units out of the housing supply and drives up prices for ordinary people.
Lake expressed her support for that vision on Tuesday.
“I want to find ways to make sure that people, first-time homeowners and families, can get into homes and not be outbid or even underbid by hedge funds and the like,” she said.
Later, Mitchell asked Lake to explain her “approach to abortion.” While running for governor during the last election cycle, Lake called the near-total ban on abortion, enacted when Arizona was still a territory, a “big bill.” After the Arizona Supreme Court upheld that law in a ruling last week, Lake said the 1864 law she once praised was “out of step with the people of Arizona.”
Lake responded that she has “never changed” in her opposition to a federal abortion ban and downplayed the impact of the 1864 law. She said people who want an abortion can seek one in another state and referred to the attorney’s announcement Democratic Arizona General Kris Mayes said she will not prosecute any abortion ban.
“Everyone is arguing about a law that isn’t even enforced here in Arizona,” Lake said.
“Even if we have a restrictive law here,” Lake continued, “you can go three hours this way, three hours that way, and you can have an abortion.”
Mayes’ decision could be challenged by one of the state’s attorneys.
A memo circulated Monday by a Republican Party legislative aide showed that Arizona Republicans are considering introducing competing proposals to weaken support for a widely expected ballot measure that would enshrine abortion rights in the Arizona Constitution.
“I think our legislators need to do something quickly, and that is to put a new initiative on the ballot to give people options,” Lake said Tuesday.
Political observers believe the issue of abortion could be a major problem for Lake and other Arizona Republicans’ campaigns this election year. In addition to the far-reaching implications for prenatal health care in Arizona, the abortion restrictions are likely to increase Democratic turnout in statewide elections like Lake’s, which are widely expected to be razor-thin.
Lake’s likely Democratic opponent in the November general election is Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz. She faces a GOP primary challenger in Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb.
In recent comments, Gallego has directly targeted Lake for her past support of the 1864 law.
“She wanted this to happen,” Gallego said of Lake. ‘They all did that. Don’t let them lie to you.’
Republican reporter Catherine Reagor contributed to this story.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Kari Lake downplays AZ’s abortion law and links immigration to housing
