Kari Lake surrogates dodge election-denialism questions after high-stakes Senate debate

Republican Kari Lake’s post-debate surrogates dodged questions Wednesday concerning her discredited claims about stolen elections as her Democratic Senate rival Ruben Gallego batted down Lake's charge that he’s undergone a political “makeover” in his current campaign.

Arizona’s Citizens Clean Elections Commission, which organized Wednesday evening's high-stakes U.S. Senate debate between Lake, a former TV news anchor, and Gallego, a U.S. representative, allotted 15 minutes for each campaign to take questions from the media after they stepped off the debate stage.

Lake did not appear during her allotted time. Instead, several surrogates spoke on her behalf. They included Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., one of the U.S. Senate’s highest-ranking Republicans, MAGA personality Charlie Kirk and Lake adviser Caroline Wren.

The surrogates repeatedly refused to clarify Lake’s current or past view of the 2022 election she lost. Lake, a Republican, has long insisted without evidence that she, not Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs, won that race. Lake brushed the question off when Gallego posed it directly to her on the debate stage.

“We’ve answered that question,” Wren said.

Barrasso likewise sidestepped questions about Lake’s election claims.

"What I will tell you is I'm supporting Kari Lake because she's the best candidate for the Senate. I want to see her get elected,” he said.

Lake’s rhetoric on the issue was one of the reasons national Republicans initially were skeptical of her candidacy, The Arizona Republic has reported.

Barrasso noted that he voted to certify the presidential election in 2020. He declined to comment when reporters pressed him on whether he believed Lake’s election was stolen or why he was supporting a candidate who is one of Arizona’s top purveyors of election-related conspiracy theories.

"We want to make sure that she wins by such a large margin that there's no question at all,” he said.

Gallego dismisses past progressive label as 'DC term'

Gallego took questions alongside a fellow Marine Corps veteran, John Bailon.

During the hourlong debate, Lake alleged Gallego had undergone an "extreme makeover" politically. She pointed out that he was once a member of the House Progressive Caucus, the House Democrats' furthest-left flank. 

Gallego was once an outspoken Democratic voice on the issue of immigration. He has struck a more moderate tone during his Senate bid. He let his membership in the Progressive Caucus lapse. And he has warmed to some GOP-led policy ideas, such as a wall at the U.S.-Mexico border, which he once called “stupid” and “dumb.”

"I've been working on so many different committees, caucuses,” he said.

Gallego pointed out that he, unlike Lake, supported the bipartisan Senate border deal that failed earlier this year. 

"We had the most conservative members of the Republicans, the most moderate and progressive members on the Democratic side because we were trying to focus to make sure that our border communities were safe,” he said.

As for the progressive label, he said: “Those terms just don’t really matter in Arizona.”