Trump-Backed Candidate For Arizona Governor Caught With Nazi Sympathizers and QAnon Followers: CNN

Kari Lake, the longtime Phoenix-area news anchor turned Trump-backed candidate for Arizona governor, has been documented by CNN embracing far-right figures including QAnon conspiracy peddlers and Nazi sympathizers.

Lake herself has made waves in the political arena after very publicly quitting her anchor job, pushing hard the “big lie” by former President Donald Trump that the 2020 election was stolen and even calling to imprison Arizona’s Democratic Secretary of State Katie Hobbs – her potential general election opponent if both win their primaries.

The current Republican Governor Doug Ducey, who rebuked Trump by certifying and arguing on behalf of the integrity of Arizona’s 2020 election, cannot run again as he is term-limited.

CNN reported that Lake has been campaigning with various far-right figures including Ron Watkins, who is running for Congress in Arizona’s 1st Congressional District and played a key role in promoting the far-right QAnon conspiracy theory. 

Watkins wrote in an October post on Telegram, “Just had dinner with Kari Lake, the next Governor of Arizona. She inspires me with her tenacity and willingness to lead the fight to take back Arizona from do-nothing RINOs.”

Also, last month Lake’s campaign invited Mary Ann Mendoza, an activist who lost her police officer son in a crash involving an undocumented immigrant, to speak at an event. In 2020, Mendoza was dropped from speaking at the Republican National Convention after it came to light she pushed QAnon conspiracy theories on social media, including a claim that Jews were plotting to take over the world.

CNN’s K-File reports that in August, Lake met with and posed for photos with Greyson Arnold, a “Nazi sympathizer who has a history of making White nationalist, racist, antisemitic and pro-Nazi statements, including once calling Adolf Hitler ‘a complicated historical figure which many people misunderstand.’”

Lake also met with Ethan Schmidt-Crockett, the founder of the AntiMaskersClub. Schmidt-Crockett is known “harassing a store specializing in wigs for cancer patients this summer because it required customers to wear masks.” 

“Anti-maskers club here with Kari Lake,” said Schmidt-Crockett alongside Lake and Arnold in a video. “America First,” they all said.

Lake has held various anti-mask rallies and is a fierce critic of vaccine mandates in the state.