'Up for the fight': Arizona Senate race will be referendum on democracy itself

28 March 2024

With Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Arizona) having decided against seeking reelection, Arizona's 2024 U.S. Senate race will likely become a two-person battle between liberal Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego and far-right MAGA Republican and conspiracy theorist Kari Lake.

Recently, Lake — who falsely claimed, without evidence, that Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs stole Arizona's 2022 gubernatorial election from her — has made an effort to soften her extremist image. And she now claims that her past attacks on "McCain Republicans" were "in jest."

But conservative GOP activist Meghan McCain (daughter of the late Sen. John McCain and a former co-host of ABC's "The View") isn't buying it and told Lake, in an angry February 21 tweet, "No peace, b***h."

Lake is a very divisive figure in Arizona politics, repeatedly making the false, repeatedly debunked claim that now-President Joe Biden and his allies stole the 2020 election from then-President Donald Trump.

In a lengthy article published on March 28, Mother Jones' Abby Vesoulis emphasizes that Arizona's 2024 U.S. Senate race isn't a run-of-the-bill contest between a liberal Democrat and a conservative Republican — it is a referendum on U.S. democracy itself.

Vesoulis recalls that when the U.S. Capitol Building was violently attacked by Trump supporters on January 6, 2021, Gallego — a U.S. Marine Corp. veteran — gave fellow members of Congress tips on self-defense and coming out of the attack alive.

Gallego gave Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-California) a pen, advising, "Here, stick this in their neck if they get close to you."

Lake, in contrast, has been a staunch defender of the January 6 rioters.

"Three years later," Vesoulis explains, "the battle for American democracy continues, and Gallego, locked in one of the most pivotal contests of the 2024 election, is again attempting to hold the line. Along with close matchups in Ohio and Montana, his Senate race in Arizona for the seat Kyrsten Sinema is vacating could be one of a handful that decide control of the upper chamber and, with it, the future of our republic. Donald Trump, facing 88 criminal counts, has promised to usher in MAGA on steroids if reelected, including mass deportation and sweeping bans on gender-affirming care. A Democratic-led Senate would be one of the last fortifications against his agenda."

Vesoulis adds, "As if to further underscore the stakes, Gallego's opponent is the former TV news anchor turned Trump sycophant Kari Lake. A prolific purveyor of conspiracy theories, Lake claims not only that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump, but also, that she was robbed of the Arizona governorship in her 2022 race. If Trumpism is akin to a religion, Lake views herself as one of its martyrs."

The Mother Jones reporter notes that "Trump's effort to overturn" the 2020 election, "sent" ex-Marine Gallego "into combat mode" on January 6, 2021 — and now, Vesoulis writes, it is "oddly fitting" that Gallego is up against "one of the biggest promoters of the Big Lie."

"One candidate amplified the election lies that motivated thousands of Trump zealots to ransack the citadel of American democracy," Vesoulis writes. "The other prepared to repel this onslaught — and preserve the sanctity of the democratic process — with a ballpoint pen. In November, democracy is again on the line. And Gallego is up for the fight."

Read Abby Vesoulis' full Mother Jones' article at this link.

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