Arizona Republicans have turned on failed gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake as she seeks the nomination for U.S. Senate.
The GOP Senate hopeful was taken aback recently by loud booing as she addressed party loyalists at a megachurch, and a dozen Republicans – including elected officials, candidates and donors – told the Washington Post that Lake and her allies have apparently been recording conversations and then leaking them.
“I don’t trust her — I am done,” said Barbara Wyllie, an 81-year-old lifelong Republican who turned on Lake after a recording leaked against the state GOP chair.
Lake admitted to making a recording of her conversation with then-GOP chair Jeff DeWit, who told her that important individuals did not want her to run for Senate and asked her to consider a corporate role, and she publicly described the offer as an attempted bribe but insists she did not leak the recording.
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“When she did that to Jeff DeWit, it’s like, ‘Okay, she’s wired for everybody,” Wyllie said.
Lake's supporters liked when she recorded critics and released those tapes, especially when she targeted journalists or Democrats, but they don't appreciate the same tactics being used against fellow Republicans.
“To the extent that people in the party have character questions and authenticity questions about Kari Lake, this story plays into those questions,” said former state House speaker Kirk Adams, now a political and business consultant.
Prominent Republicans in the state doubted the election-denying Lake could win the Senate seat held by Democrat-turned-independent Kyrsten Sinema, who's also being challenged by Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), and he drove to her home to talk her out of running – and the audio of that conversation was published months later by the Daily Mail, which she then seized on to claim the state party was corrupt.
“The release of our conversation by Lake confirms a disturbing tendency to exploit private interactions for personal gain,” said DeWit, who ultimately resigned as party chair.
Other private conversations involving Lake and fellow Republicans have wound up being publicly disclosed, and GOP activists say they don't trust the former TV news anchor, but they'd probably still vote for her.
“Anybody that’s worked with her, and into the future, are going to wonder, ‘Is she recording me?’” said Gary Morris, chair of the Gila County Republican Committee. “Those who were booing felt betrayed — that outside of politics or inside of politics, you just do not audiotape somebody for personal benefit.”
