Kari Lake at the border wall./Campaign photo
By Stacey Barchenger | Arizona Republic
Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey is responding to criticism from gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake, saying she was “making things up” in her frequent attacks on him and had no new ideas for securing the state’s southern border.
The governor’s chastising of a fellow Republican, let alone a candidate for office, is rare. But Lake has repeatedly attacked Ducey on his record at the border, an issue he’s prioritized throughout his eight years in office and one that helped him win election in 2014 and again in 2018.
In an interview with The Arizona Republic, Ducey dismissed the criticism and said Lake was playing politics.
“She’s a candidate,” the governor said. “She’s making things up.”
Lake said during a radio interview last month that Ducey “just hasn’t been strong enough on the border” and his work with other governors through the American Governors’ Border Strike Force showed they were “starting to realize, ‘Wow, we have to do something about it.'”