US Senate candidate Mark Lamb repeatedly claimed his Republican rival Kari Lake “surrendered to the establishment,” as she called him a “total coward” on ensuring election integrity Thursday during an online forum that was the closest the two Republicans have had to a debate in eight months.
Lake, a former television news anchor and the Republican front-runner, largely ignored Lamb’s comments and instead emphasized that she has the support of former President Donald Trump.
Near the end, Lake finally unloaded the Pinal County sheriff, giving a rare glimpse of an opponent she normally doesn’t acknowledge.
“I fought for election integrity. I have cases in court right now and I know Lamb doesn’t think I’m a fighter,” Lake said. “Not many people have the ability to fight. I took every blow as I fought for the security of our elections. Sheriffs have the ability to fight, and the Pinal County sheriff flinched. He is a total coward when it comes to election integrity.”
For his part, Lamb has distilled his often overlooked candidacy into a single question for Republican voters:
“The stakes are too high. If you were to hire someone to run your business, … would you hire someone who really has no experience in this? said Lam.
“Right now we need people who are proven conservative fighters. While I appreciate her passion, this is not the race. This is not the time.
“You’re going to put someone in there who is a proven winner, who has won two elections, defeated the Democrats, who understands the issues that affect Americans and Arizonans, which is the border – the No. 1 issue – the economy, crime, national security.”
The hour-long forum was organized by AMAC Action, the political arm of the Association of Mature American Citizens, which bills itself as the conservative alternative to the AARP. It was a rare opportunity for Republicans to consider their options in a race where Lamb Lake has rarely attacked and looked ahead to the general election.
Both Republicans are running for the chance to replace retiring Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz. Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., is the only Democrat on the ballot.
Lamb and Lake weren’t together, and they both spoke in timed segments that kept them from really engaging each other. For most of their segments, they agreed on the importance of tighter border security and the economic damage of persistently high inflation.
Lake reminded listeners throughout that she was the only one who had Trump’s support and that she shared his America-first priorities. Lamb continually positioned himself as the candidate with elective experience who has known the responsibility to take action as sheriff.
But in the end, both candidates abandoned subtlety to make their pitch to conservatives.
Lake said she wants to cut the federal budget in half.
“I will never vote to reduce or harm Social Security,” Lake said, adding that she will protect the program’s future by cutting other spending.
“I think we can cut the federal government by 50%. Most of it is just grossly overweight, with workers doing nothing. They don’t even show up for work,” she said.
Lam went after Lake.
“I know Kari says she’s a fighter and she does this. It’s easy to talk about it when you’ve never served. One thing is to actually do it. I actually had to make those tough decisions,” he said, listing his opposition to COVID-19 lockdowns and mask mandates.
That prompted her to call him a coward.
Lamb began his next remarks by saying, “I think I may have struck a nerve there.”
Lake, he said, only complained about election problems in her race when she lost the 2022 gubernatorial election, while he began looking for evidence of widespread fraud in his county.
“I don’t think Joe Biden got 81 million votes, but I don’t live in the world of feelings and thoughts. “I live in the world of evidence, which you can prove beyond a reasonable doubt in court,” he said. “Any one of these people, including Kari, or any of them, could have brought me evidence that was useful in court so I could do something about it.”
The back and forth traffic was a rarity. Lake has not agreed to attend a debate hosted by the nonpartisan Clean Elections Commission. She has suggested she would debate Lamb if the event were hosted by the Republican Party of Arizona, but the party claims she has no plans to do so.
Lamb claimed without evidence that he is “just a few points behind.” At least three publicly available polls since February show Lake Lamb leading by at least 25 percentage points. In one of the few general election polls that featured Lamb, he trailed Gallego by four percentage points in October.
This article originally appeared in Arizona Republic: Arizona Senate race: Kari Lake calls GOP rival Mark Lamb a total coward
