GOP Senate Candidate Kari Lake Criticized For Telling Supporters: ‘Strap On A Glock’

On Sunday, Republican candidate for the Arizona U.S. senate seat Kari Lake delivered a fiery speech to her supporters in Lake Havasu City. In it, she urged them to prepare for the upcoming 2024 campaign – and “strap on a Glock.” 

She addressed the crowd of Arizonans in Mohave County, “We need to send people to Washington, D.C., that the swamp does not want there… And I can think of a couple of people they don’t want there. First on that list is Donald J. Trump; second is Kari Lake.”

Lake highlighted her alignment with Donald Trump, stating she shares his desire to confront the forces that seek to “undermine the American people.” In recognition of the potential backlash she may face, Lake warned her supporters of the challenges that lie ahead in the next six months due to the intense nature of the campaign.

She told her supporters, “[Trump’s] willing to sacrifice everything I am. That’s why they’re coming after us with lawfare; they’re going to come after us with everything. That’s why the next six months is going to be intense. And we need to strap on our — let’s see. What do we want to strap on? … We’re going to strap on our, our seat belt. We’re going to put on our helmet or your Kari Lake ball cap. We are going to put on the armor of God. And maybe strap on a Glock on the side of us just in case.”

Several Lake supporters expressed concerns about potential disruptions to the election process at the event. They alluded to conspiracy theories about the pandemic and the January 6 Capitol riot being orchestrated to discredit Trump and his supporters. These theories have been widely debunked.

Lake has consistently rejected the results of both the 2020 presidential election, which saw President Joe Biden win Arizona narrowly, and the 2022 gubernatorial election, which she lost but refused to accept the results. Multiple court cases and reviews have found no evidence that widespread fraud or misconduct influenced the election outcomes. Recently, Lake decided not to contest her liability in a defamation suit filed against her by a Republican election official in Maricopa County.

Lake delivered her speech in Mohave County, a region that overwhelmingly supported Trump in the 2020 presidential election. She aims to garner an even larger margin of victory in the county in 2024 and believes that a strong showing in Mohave County will help her win the state.

After reports of Lakes comments surfaced, her Democratic opponent, Rep. Ruben Gallego, told MSNBC: “This is who Kari Lake is. She’ll say anything; she’ll do anything for power. She thinks she can scare people, she thinks she can bully people, but Arizona is not that way. We’re a state that does value each other.”

Lake recently flip-flopped on her abortion position after the Arizona Supreme Court reinstated an 1864 total abortion ban.