The Kari Lake campaign for governor continues its strong momentum, raising $1,462,115 in 2021 according to the Arizona Secretary of State’s campaign finance database. Two of her Republican opponents brought in more money, but both are funding their campaigns with millions of their own dollars. Steve Gaynor reported $5,009,655, which came almost entirely from his own funds, and Karrin Taylor Robson raised about the same amount as Lake, with almost another $2 million added of her own money. Matt Salmon brought in a little over a million.
Lake told The Arizona Sun Times, “I am thrilled by our fundraising. The pundits expected us to only raise $500,000. We raised nearly $1.5 million. Our swampy opponents hired up all of the political fundraisers in town in order to starve us from being able to raise money. But the people stepped up and made donations because they know in me, they have the first politician to run for governor who will truly represent the people of Arizona.”
Arizona political consultant Jason Rose, who is not working for any of the gubernatorial campaigns, told The Sun Times, “Kari Lake’s meteoric rise to a big lead in the GOP primary reminds me of JD Hayworth’s run for Congress in 1994. Hayworth, like Lake, was a quasi-celebrity among voters. Both were and are great retail campaigners too. Add to that Lake’s ability to speak [former President Donald] Trump without an accent as well as a dynamic and different social media presence. It has all snowballed into the most passionate voter allegiance since Joe Arpaio’s in the late 1990s.”
Read the rest of the article at The Arizona Sun Times
