On Wednesday night Arizona Republican Senate candidate Kari Lake took aim at her opponent, Democrat Ruben Gallego, in a heated debate, accusing him of backtracking on his past statements regarding border security. Lake, who has been a vocal supporter of former President Donald Trump’s border policies, seized the opportunity to expose Gallego’s inconsistencies and failures in securing Arizona’s southern border.
During the debate, Lake confronted Gallego by reading excerpts from his past statements that criticized Trump’s border wall. “He called it the ‘dumb, stupid border wall.’ He wrote an op-ed that said, ‘Why we should never build Trump’s wall ever.’ So we’re getting the extreme makeover version of Ruben tonight,” Lake said. “Ruben has voted against border security every step of the way.”
“Remember, I covered the state for 27 years. I was in your home. And all that time, we watched these career politicians say they were going to secure the border, and they never did—until President Trump came along and actually secured the border.” Lake continued, “But he had to do it with one hand tied behind his back because people like my opponent were fighting him every step of the way and would not give a penny for that border wall.
Lake’s statements directly challenged Gallego’s credibility on the issue of immigration, positioning herself as a strong proponent for building a secure border wall. “That border wall keeps us safe,” she asserted. “We’ve seen it here in Arizona because we’ve seen those areas where the border wall is there, and people aren’t coming through. Where there are gaps in it, people are pouring through.
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Lake went further, linking Gallego’s record to the current administration’s policies. She claimed that Gallego supports “Kamala Harris, the border czar, and Joe Biden’s open border policy,” which she says has led to the entry of 20 million people illegally, including over 400,000 convicted criminals. “The only piece of legislation that Mr. Gallego has put forth was not about border security. It was about removing the word ‘illegal alien’ from anything in the federal government paperwork,” she said. “He’s more worried about semantics than our security. And right now, we know that we have terrorists coming through.
With less than a month to go until Election Day, Arizona is poised to play a pivotal role in determining both the next President and the Senate majority. Polls have consistently shown Gallego, a five-term Congressman, leading Lake among voters. According to Real Clear Politics, Gallego holds a 6.8 percent lead in the polls conducted since early September.
“We want to be able to go for a jog in the morning like Lake and Riley did and not have to worry about being killed, raped, and murdered. And we’re not safe because of the people that have come in,” she said. In her closing remarks, Lake finished, “On day one, my first piece of legislation will be to fully fund and expedite the construction of the border wall.
“We could have had that wall finished,” she argued. “But Ruben Gallego and Kamala Harris, they sold that $325 million of border material for pennies on the dollar. They gave it away.”
