TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — With Doug Ducey reaching his term limit, voters will elect Arizona’s next governor in November.
Former Phoenix news anchor Kari Lake is now a Republican vying for that seat. While on the campaign trail in September, Lake sat down with KGUN 9.
Border Security
If elected governor, Kari Lake says she’d be even more active than Ducey at Arizona’s southern border.
This year, Customs & Border Protection’s Tucson Sector reported new highs in migrant encounters and fentanyl seizures.
“We have the most aggressive border plan this country has ever seen,” said Lake. “Because we have the biggest invasion that this country has ever seen going on at our border.”
Lake wants to officially declare a border “invasion”--a move which several Republicans say, pointing to the U.S. Constitution, gives the state more authority to protect itself from a threat when the federal government fails to do so.
Lake doesn’t support busing migrants to sanctuary cities across the country. Instead, her border policy aims to fill remaining gaps in the border wall, create a special ‘border court,’ and use state resources to put more boots on the ground.
According to Lake’s website, that entails increasing Arizona National Guard presence at the border and re-purposing the volunteer Arizona Rangers into a group dedicated to border security.
“We will put [resources] where we need them, where we have [migrants] coming in,” said Lake. “And we’ll use intelligence and find out where people are coming in. We’re not going to allow the cartels to control our border anymore. We’re taking that back. We’re gonna send a very loud message on Day 1, that they’re no longer in charge of our border. They’re no longer allowed to run drugs through our border.”
Homelessness
Lake would also take a different approach to tackling homelessness.
“You’ve got to put services first, not housing first,” she said, summing up her homelessness plan as “get treatment, go to jail, or get going.”
“We’re gonna help people get off the streets,” she said. “We’re gonna help them get into treatment. And sometimes it takes something called ‘tough love.’ I know, I’ve had friends and relatives who have struggled with addiction. You’ve gotta use some tough love. They’ve gotta have some skin in the game.”
Lake says the answer is cracking down on street crime. Though short-handed police departments across the state could pose a challenge to that plan.
“If [people on the streets] refuse to get help, and they’re trespassing, and they are using drugs publicly, any crimes that people commit, we’re gonna do the ‘broken windows policing,’” she explained. “And that means we’re gonna start going after crimes. Little crimes lead to big crimes. Lawlessness leads to more lawlessness. So we will arrest people if they’re committing crimes. And then we’ll expunge that arrest, that arrest record if they agree to get help. That’s how we will encourage people who don’t want to get help, to get help.”
Lake wants to ban urban camping in Arizona. She cites a court case, Martin v. City of Boise, which says a ban cannot be put in place until there are more shelter beds than unhoused people.
When asked about how she plans to increase the number of available shelter beds in Arizona, Lake responded, “It’s an advanced program, but we’re gonna work on it. And we’re gonna actually work to make an effect.”
Education
Another key issue is education.
Lake wants to offer more technical education—in fields such as construction, plumbing and welding—after 10th grade. She wants to create a statewide system of schools committed to this education, especially in rural areas.
She also wants to direct funding to students instead of districts and promote parental choices for schools.
She plans to increase teachers’ pay through performance-based bonus incentives, not through funding districts, which she claims too often results in raising administration rallies instead.
Ties to Trump
Lake has been endorsed by and closely tied to Donald Trump, even repeating his unfounded claim that the 2020 election was “stolen.”
Even as some independents and Republicans no longer support Trump, Lake doubled down on her friendship with the polarizing former president. She says even if you don’t like him, his policies are the right choice for the country and for Arizona.
“I’m running on the issues, and the issues are very obvious what they are,” she said. “We have a wide open border. We have crime surging on our streets, we have drugs pouring in, we have an economy that’s faltering, we have a education system that’s brainwashing our kids. This is Joe Biden’s America.
“I think everybody out there would look back at their time when president Trump was president—whether they liked him or hated him—and say ‘Yes, my life was better under president Trump.”
Abortion
Lake is pro-Trump, and almost entirely anti-abortion.
When asked if she supports exceptions for the life of the mother, rape or incest, Lake responded, “Yes, I do. I do.”
A legal battle is still playing out in the courts, but last month a Pima County judge paved the way for a 1901 abortion ban to take control in Arizona, allowing an exception only for the life of the mother.
When asked if she would support changing that law to add more exceptions in the state—Lake said that’s not her call.
“We elect legislators and they change the law,” she replied. “I don’t write the law, the legislators do… So I will enforce the laws of our state. And if we don’t like the laws, we need the legislature to change them.”
Like the legislature, it’s up to voters to select the governor.
While lake would keep a Republican in that seat, she’d put her own stamp on the state, if elected.
IN THE VIDEO PLAYER BELOW
Full interview with Kari Lake on her campaign
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So we'll start at the southern border. You have an even extensive Border Protection Plan, a big part of that is just more boots on the ground. Is that correct? How important is that part of the border plan for you?
The border plan will work all together. You don't just take one part of it because you've got to have a comprehensive plan. And we have the most aggressive border plan this country has ever seen. Because we have the biggest invasion this country's ever seen going on at our border. I’ve been to the border many times. And we have to be, get very serious very quick about that. So day one, we declare an invasion on our border. And we get the ball rolling for the state to take over control of the border and make sure that it's safe and secure. And that means we will put boots on the ground. Right now the Border Patrol is in a tough spot. They're controlled by the federal government. And Joe Biden is in control of them. And he's okay with people coming across the border. And so we need to go down there and stop people from coming across. We will, additionally, finish President Trump's wall project, it's about 27 miles left of that. We’re going to use the the materials that are left on the border to finish that. We paid for those. Those are taxpayer funded material. And we're going to take that back and finish the wall. And we're going to work with other states — like minded states. I’ve already gotten assurances from Governor DeSantis. He will send Florida National Guard to stop people from coming over. So it's a big plan. I just barely scratched the surface of it. But people can find it on our website, Karilake.com.
Yeah. And we can't obviously in this setting can't go through everything. But yes, it's a very big plan for the, just the Arizona Rangers part of the plan, as well as the National Guard, how do you how do you plan to kind of just move those resources, those state resources, once you you know, have control of the border, as you say, if you were to go through with that.
What do you mean, move them, get them down to the border?
The manpower as well as the resources and the funding to get that down there.
Well the the resources and manpower that I have control of, that I'm in charge of, kind of as the Commander in Chief of the state, we will put where we need them, where people are coming in. And we'll use intelligence and find out where people are coming in. We're not going to allow the cartels to control our border anymore. We’re taking that back. We’re going to send a very loud message on day one, that they're no longer in charge of our border, they're no longer allowed to run drugs through the border. We're seeing a record amount of fentanyl pouring, what we've, that's just what we've seized. And you and I both know that the cartels don't let us seize all of it. And so you know, we've seized enough to kill billions of people. And we know that fentanyl is killing more young people than any other cause of death. And I'm not okay with that. And the people aren't okay with that either. We are the pipeline for fentanyl coming into this country. And it's a weapon of mass destruction. And we're not going to allow Arizona's reputation to become a state that's controlled by the cartels, that is sending poison in to kill Americans.
You follow, you mentioned following President Trump's lead when it comes to the wall. You’ve aligned yourself with President Trump over the past couple of years. There are independents and even Republicans out there who don't necessarily support President Trump. What would be your message to them, watching this, who may not be a fan of him or his leadership when he was in the White House? But obviously you still want them to have your vote.
I'm running on the issues and the issues are very obvious what they are. We have a wide open border. We have crime surging on our streets, we have drugs pouring in. We have an economy that's faltering. We have an education system that's brainwashing our kids. This is Joe Biden's America. I think everybody out there would look back at their time when President Trump was president, whether they liked him or hated them, and they will say ‘Yes, my life was better under President Trump.’ You don't have to love him to love America-first policies. We have no choice but to take and go with America first policies right now to get us out of the mess we're in. And so we're going to take those America first policies, we're going to bring ‘em, Arizona level, Arizona first. And we're going to start putting the people of Arizona first. And we're going to solve a lot of our problems that way. So I you know, hey, look, I love President Trump. I think he's great. You may not. That's okay. Do you want to work to end street chronic street homelessness? Yes, I think most people do. Then you're going to love our plans. Do you want to make sure your kids are getting a great education, where they're getting trade school training, vocational training, right there in high school, so they're ready for a career out of high school? Then you're going to love our plans. Do you want a secure border where people aren't coming in illegally? Then you're going to love our plans. And do you want to stop the Fentanyl crisis? Then you're going to love our plans. It has nothing to do with President Trump. That has everything to do with protecting Arizona.
I'll go off of one of those issues mentioned: homelessness. You have a large homelessness plan as well. In there, there's a there's a portion of it that's kind of simplifying it: ‘get treatment, go to jail or get going.’ Is that how you would sum it up in very short terms? How you kind of…
Yeah, I guess that’s a good way to do it. And the point is, we're spending 87 billion, I believe, now in Ukraine. And we have people living on our streets. I'm not okay with that. God did not intend for us to live in despair on the streets in a tent with a needle in our arm. And we have to do better. And we're going to help people, we're going to help people get off the streets, we're going to help them get into treatment. And sometimes it takes something called ‘tough love.’ I know, I've had friends and relatives who've struggled with addiction. You've got to use some tough love, they've got to have some skin in the game. We’re going to help them get treatment, help them get help for their mental illness. And if they refuse, there is a small segment of the population that lives on the streets that's homeless that just wants to live on the streets they want to continue to use, and they're going to continue to use, cause trouble. We're going to start making life more difficult for them to do that. Because we want to urge them to get help.
How do you plan to do that, the ‘get going’ part? How do you plan to encourage those people to get help?
The ‘get going’ part? Is if they refuse to get help, and they're trespassing, and they are using drugs publicly… Any crimes that people commit, we're going to do the ‘broken windows’ policing. And that means we're going to start going after crimes. Little crimes lead to big crimes. Lawlessness leads to more lawlessness. So we will arrest people if they're committing crimes. And then we'll expunge that arrest, that arrest record if they agree to get help. That's how we will encourage people who don't want to get help to get help. And I'll tell you what: Once you clear your mind from the drug-induced psychosis, once you get clean and start to see that there's a better life and become a productive citizen, you're not going to want to go back to that. There is a great place here in town called the Opportunity Center. I'm sure you've heard of it. Hopefully you have. It's amazing. Burt Lopez has put a lot of love into the center. And they're doing exactly what our homeless policy is. So if you want to see what our homeless policy looks like, go check out the Opportunity Center here in Tucson, it's fantastic.
Well, I will check that out. But for the people that do want treatment, how do you plan to, you know, get more housing or more beds in centers, that's different than the efforts that are going on now that obviously aren't creating enough of those beds?
Well, the problem is, a lot of people don't want to get into these homeless shelters because they want to continue using drugs, and they don't want to follow the rules, and we're gonna ban what they call urban camping, which is basically the tents on allowing people to live on the side of the street. And when we do that, we can't do that unless we have enough shelter beds. We don't have to have fancy shelter beds, we just need to have enough shelter beds. And when you get enough shelter beds, then you can say, ‘Okay, now we're not allowing camping in tents in parks, camping along the side of the road.’ And so it's an advanced, it's an advanced program, but we're going to work on it and we're going to actually work to make an effect, you've got to put services first, not housing first. When you put housing first, if you've ever known someone who's an addict, and you say, ‘Hey, you can come live in my spare bedroom. But you don't have to do anything to get better.’ Pretty soon you're gonna have a drug den. We've got to get people and get them better, we must get them help. And there'll be missteps along the way. I'm not gonna say everything's gonna be perfect. We're going to work to make a big impact in people's lives, to help the people who are homeless, and to help the taxpaying citizens who want their streets back. They want their parks back.
I just gotta get this last issue in and seeing that we have limited time. A hot button issue this year is abortion. Do you… I know you're anti abortion. Do you support exceptions for the life of the mother rape or incest?
Yes, I do. I do.
Now, those only one, I believe the life of the mother exception is included in the current laws. I know there's some confusion on the Arizona laws right now. If you were to be elected governor, how would you handle those laws in terms of changing them or not changing them to have those exceptions?
Well, the truth of the matter is we don't know what the law is right now. It's in the courts. And I'm running for governor, not emperor. And so we have to see what the courts decide. We don't know which law is going to take effect. And I'm willing to wait and see. And so I'm hoping the courts will will decide and then we'll figure it out from there. If we don't like our laws, we have a system in place to change those laws. We elect legislators and they change the law. I don't write the law the legislators do. So I will, I will enforce the laws of our state. And if we don't like the laws, we need the legislature to change them. And so, I’m, that's how I operate, which is within the law.