Republican Arizona Senate candidate Kari Lake sparred with CNN‘s Kaitlan Collins in a contentious interview over the politician’s ongoing claims of election fraud and her shifting stances on key issues.
Collins asked Lake at least seven times whether she would accept that she lost the 2022 gubernatorial race, which Lake has baselessly claimed was fraudulent. When pressed, the Senate hopeful repeatedly changed the subject or refused to answer the question.
“Why are we looking backward?” Lake said, adding: “I’m looking forward to what is coming up. I’m looking forward to November 5 and this huge election, and the people of our state are caring about what’s coming up, what’s going forward.”
Lake told Collins she had answered the question in “thousands of interviews,” which Collins disputed.
The Republican continued: “I want to make sure our elections are run properly, and I’m still in litigation, so I don’t want to speak to that, but I do want to look forward. The media can’t get over it. You say I can’t get over it, and it looks like you can’t.”
A former news anchor turned politician, Lake lost the gubernatorial race to her Democratic opponent, Katie Hobbs, and is now running for the Senate against Democratic Representative Ruben Gallego.
Lake faces an uphill battle in her Senate race. She has consistently trailed behind Gallego in polls over the past two months by margins ranging from 4 to 14 percentage points, according to the poll aggregator 538. Newsweek has contacted a representative for Lake for comment outside normal business hours.
Republican Arizona Senate candidate Kari Lake at a campaign rally for Ohio Senator JD Vance, the Republican vice presidential nominee, at Arizona Christian University on July 31. Lake recently sparred with a CNN anchor in a contentious interview.
Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
Arizona has traditionally been a Republican stronghold, but President Joe Biden narrowly won the state in 2020, and Democrats have won the state’s previous three Senate races.
Lake, a firm Trump ally who has become a champion of the former president’s election fraud claims, is a controversial figure. She has feuded with factions within her own party, and several Arizona Republicans have endorsed her opponent.
During the interview on The Source With Kaitlan Collins, the host also challenged Lake on her changing positions on various subjects, including abortion rights and early voting.
Lake has long held strong anti-abortion views, previously expressing support for an 1864 near-total abortion ban in Arizona.
However, following Democrats’ success campaigning on the issue, she appears to have softened her stance, now saying she supports Arizona’s current law restricting abortion after 15 weeks.
“Your stance on this has been so fascinating. It’s shifted quite a bit,” Collins said, adding, “I just wonder what you would say to voters in Arizona who see your changes on an issue from that severe of a position to … someone maybe who’s willing to say anything to get elected on this issue.”
Lake rejected Collins’ characterization and said she believed the question should be left up to the state, adding that she was running for federal office.
Lake repeatedly tried to pivot the interview to talk about crime, immigration and the cost of living, topics Republicans have highlighted throughout the election cycle.
Elsewhere in the interview, Lake said New York had become so dangerous that it was unsafe to take the subway.
“I take the subway all the time,” Collins responded. “It is safe.”
