Op-ed by John Hanna | Photo: Alamy
Elections from local levels to national levels turned the heads of many Americans, especially the candidates themselves. One of the more interesting examples is how, in Arizona, Kari Lake rose to popularity with voters, beating her closest trailing opponent for the GOP gubernatorial primary Karrin Taylor Robson by less than 5 percentage points, according to Ballotpedia.
While Robson ran a formidable campaign against her opponents, Lake won the day by focusing on what appears to be the most important issues to native Arizonans who identify as conservative voters. She was especially favorable to voters with Joe Biden in the White House, and Democrat Senator Mark Kelly winning reelection, both of whom tend to vote along party lines rather than promote the interests of the American people.
According to Lake’s gubernatorial candidate website, she was concerned about the issue of water scarcity and conservation, the Covid-19 mandates, and interestingly enough, she wanted to prevent Arizona from becoming a second California.
These are all logical choices for a state that is geographically located primarily in the desert, and struggling under the grip of Covid and inflation under the Biden administration. Perhaps the Lake campaign’s most appealing stance to Arizonans, and what arguably helped her clinch the nomination over Robson was the call for the distancing of Arizona from its neighbor to the west.
“We don’t want to be some homogenized, unrecognizable state, a second California,” Lake’s campaign website reads. “California is the ‘Progressive Dream’ realized in full after decades of one-Party Democrat control. And what does that dream look like? It’s a deliberate, unmoving traffic jam next to a homeless encampment where people are using the sidewalk as a toilet and shooting up in front of a cop who isn’t allowed to do anything about it.”
Every state to some extent has borne the brunt of absorbing Californians trying to escape the heavy costs plaguing the state’s residents. Arizona is no exception and is quite possibly the leader of this effort.
According to data advisory program manager for the Maricopa Association of Governments Scott Wilken, many of the new residents contributing to the population increase are former Californians who are moving to places like Arizona’s own Maricopa County.
Ironically, Lake’s ongoing election lawsuit is related to potential violations of state election protocol in Maricopa County, where many ex-Californians are moving. This is interesting since California is known for its reputation of government and election corruption.
Lake’s campaign website states, “We can’t allow liberal policies to California our Arizona – if we do there will be nowhere left to run.”
