On Sunday, Secretary of State and gubernatorial candidate Katie Hobbs announced that she booked the drag queen who’s spoken out against her opponent, Kari Lake, over their past friendship.
Social media posts by the drag queen, Richard Stevens, went viral in June for showcasing his past friendship with Lake as well as her support and enthusiasm for the drag queen lifestyle.
Stevens spoke out in mid-June after Lake criticized the normalization of drag queens publicly. He called her a hypocrite, claiming that he did a drag queen performance for her birthday with children present years ago, and that she attended his performances at various Phoenix bars.
They kicked God out of schools and welcomed the Drag Queens.
They took down our Flag and replaced it with a rainbow.
They seek to disarm Americans and militarize our Enemies.
As proof, Stevens posted photos of Lake standing alongside two drag queens, one of them being him. In one of the photos, Lake was dressed as Elvis Presley and posing alongside Seville dressed as a blonde female with a sugar skull face. It’s unclear whether whether Lake intended to dress as a “drag king,” which is cross-dressing for a woman, or merely intended to wear a costume for a themed party.
“Now that @karilake has waded into the war on drag queens, know she is a complete hypocrite,” wrote Stevens. “Kari was a friend of mine, and I stood by her when she turned to the right. I reached out (and she responded repeatedly) when she took a public drubbing.”
Lake served Stevens a cease-and-desist letter. Incidentally, Stevens was preparing to perform for a “family-friendly” drag show brunch when he received the letter.
In response, Stevens’ lawyer Thomas Ryan called Lake a “bully” and threatened to provide evidence that Lake hired Stevens to perform for a news anchor friend’s baby shower.
“Now Kari is a bully, and the reservoir of goodwill she had built up over the years as a cherished news anchor — well, that’s been drained to the point where we might as well just refer to her now as Kari Puddles,” wrote Ryan.
@tomryanlaw has notified @KariLake I will not cease or desist telling the truth about my relationship with her.
The Arizona Senate Republican caucus pledged in June to introduce legislation banning child attendance at drag shows. The leaders said that drag shows sexualized and groomed children. They noted that they were working with several other states to draft the legislation.
“If men want to dress as women, and if adults want to participate in watching these hyper-sexualized performances, they have the freedom to do so. It crosses the line when kids are subjected to these drag shows,” wrote the caucus. “We will be damned if we won’t fight like hell to protect the most innocent from these horrifying and disturbing trends that are spreading across the nation now that extremist Democrats are currently in control of our federal government.”
JOINT STATEMENT BY THE ARIZONA STATE SENATE MAJORITY TEAM: Senate Republicans Fight Back Against the Sexual Perversion Children Are Being Exposed To
Their announcement followed a series of reports on the controversies following drag shows across the state. In May, a Tucson high school counselor who organized a drag show for students was arrested for having a sexual relationship with a 15-year-old student. In June, a Phoenix museum hosted a drag show open to children.
Studies have linked youth exposure to sexually explicit material with risky sexual behaviors, intimacy disorders, sexual violence and misconduct, and sexual deviancy.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
On Wednesday, YouTube suspended the “Louder With Crowder” show for their interview with Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake last week.
YouTube explained in a notice that the show contained content that propagated “false claims that widespread fraud, errors, or glitches” changed the 2020 election results leading to Joe Biden’s presidency.
Wow. Won’t be able to steam to @YouTube because of comments from a CURRENT GUBERNATORIAL candidate. On a show with all references provided. If this isn’t suppression of political speech, then nothing is. See you tomorrow on Rumble and #MugClub with updates. War. pic.twitter.com/d4OruSTEGs
While on the show, Lake shared her doubts about the legitimacy of the 2020 presidential election results. She said that she believed the election was stolen.
Lake also expressed support for disbanding the FBI.
The show is hosted by popular conservative pundit and comedian Steven Crowder. The offending video is available on Rumble and BlazeTV, while the audio version is available on Crowder’s website, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Audible, and Deezer.
Lake denounced YouTube’s action as an effort of Big Tech censorship ahead of a critical election. She applauded Rumble for exhibiting free speech friendliness.
Rumble warned social media users that censorship was only about to get worse ahead of the midterm elections.
Was it something I said…😇 Tech tyrants are censoring @scrowder for something we talked about on his show last week. Who knows what it was & who cares–this is wrong. IT IS UNAMERICAN. We the people must denounce censorship in any form.
Wednesday’s suspension was far from Crowder’s first over the years. Last year alone, the show was suspended in March, April, October, and December. The platform removed Crowder from its YouTube Partner program as well last year, removing his ability to run ads. He has over 5.7 million followers on YouTube, and nearly 2 million followers on Twitter.
Crowder filed a lawsuit against YouTube last March.
Over the years, Crowder and YouTube have traded jabs. The frequency of YouTube’s suspensions moved Crowder to divide his live daily shows into two segments: one that is “YouTube friendly,” and another, longer half for his “Mug Club” subscribers over at BlazeTV.
Crowder ends his “YouTube friendly” shows with a direct jab at the platform: “Piss off, YouTube,” followed by a cartoon of his brand’s mug urinating on YouTube’s logo.
Libs of TikTok commented on Crowder’s suspension that YouTube was “unreal,” and called the platform “trash.” Three hours later, Libs of TikTok was banned permanently from Facebook. The social media giant didn’t offer a reason. Alphabet (Google) owns YouTube, not Facebook.
Last week, Crowder earned criticisms from Big Tech and the mainstream media for his response to the FBI raid of former President Donald Trump’s home at Mar-a-Lago.
Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake accused the media of “getting caught up in a bunch of BS stories” while ignoring her proposed policies.
Lake issued her remarks during a recent press conference to discuss her solutions for Arizona’s homelessness crisis. She asserted that the mainstream media outlets invited to the press conference hadn’t bothered to cover her proposed policies on issues important to Arizonans. Lake added a claim that her opponent, Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, doesn’t have a homelessness crisis policy.
“The media in this town doesn’t care about the issues, they only care about bogus stories,” said Lake.
🔥 🔥 @KariLake criticizes media for getting “caught up in a bunch of BS stories that the public doesn’t care about” during press conference at homeless camp.
Hobbs has issued public statements promising to mitigate homelessness, but her policy proposals on her campaign website don’t discuss homelessness.
As a social worker, I saw firsthand just how critical having a roof over your head is to both physical and mental health. I'll bring these experiences, and more, to the governor's office to effectively curb homelessness across Arizona.
Lake said that her proposed solution for homelessness was similar to a model employed by the Opportunity Center in Tucson.
Lake noted that the homeless population has doubled in several years’ time. She insisted that current homelessness policies, like those proposed by Phoenix city leadership, have become an industry. Under Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego, the city developed a plan in 2020 that included provisions to aid the homeless’ qualify of life, such as a Heat Relief Program that provides heat escapes for the homeless through shade structures and “heat relief buses” that offer air conditioning and water.
Gallego’s plan also incorporates encampment cleanups; however, as AZ Free News reported last week, residents aren’t seeing the results. 19 community members sued the city for failure to address the squalor of burgeoning encampments in the downtown area.
If elected, Lake promised that no state funds would go into programs that didn’t show results.
“I don’t believe for one second that God envisioned for us to be living in despair on the street with a needle in our arm,” said Lake.
Lake’s claims prompted a heated exchange with a prominent GOP critic, 12 News reporter Brahm Resnick.
Resnick asked Lake if she’d read any of the local media coverage on homelessness. Lake responded that she wasn’t talking about media coverage in general, but was concerned about the nature of media coverage of her and its avoidance of her solutions, such as for the homelessness crisis. Resnick observed that the media was there to cover her policies.
“We cover [homelessness] all the time. So is it all about you? All about your policy?” asked Resnick.
Lake retorted that Resnick’s approach to news was the reason for his low viewership. That triggered Resnick to offer Lake a sarcastic congratulations.
Resnick later retweeted commentary on the press conference calling Lake a “fraud.”
On Wednesday, Kari Lake declared herself victorious in the Republican primary election for governor. On Thursday, the rest of the state followed.
Lake has nearly 19,800 more votes than her main challenger, Karrin Taylor Robson, as of Thursday night. She was one of several candidates endorsed by former President Donald Trump.
Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey and former Vice President Mike Pence had endorsed Taylor Robson, who held a commanding six point lead when the first results were announced around 8 p.m. Election Day. However, that margin continued to shrink as updated results were announced throughout the late evening hours.
With nearly 200,000 ballots across the state still needing to be tabulated as of Wednesday morning, election observers predicted Lake would likely receive the majority of the still-to-be-counted votes. They pointed to the Lake campaign’s well-executed “get out the vote” promotion for election day.
Those predictions held true throughout Wednesday as additional results were announced. Lake quickly pushed ahead of Taylor Robson and held a small lead all day.
Then on Thursday, Lake’s margin of victory continued to expand as the bulk of the previously unreported votes were announced. Shortly after 7 p.m., the Associated Press declared Lake the winner. Her margin of victory is holding at just less than three percent.
.@KariLake has officially taken every single county in Arizona.
Lake was brutally critical of Taylor Robson during the primary but hopes her main challenger “will come over” to support Lake’s campaign against the Democratic nominee, current Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs.
“We don’t maybe agree on every single thing. but I think we agree on the most important issues of the day,” Lake said of Taylor Robson. “And I believe that Karrin will come in because I know for a fact Karrin loves this state.”
The Republican Governors Association (RGA) released a statement late Thursday congratulating Lake on her victory. Ducey, who is co-chairman of the RGA, was not quoted in the statement. Instead, the comments came from RGA Vice-Chair Kim Reynolds, the governor of Iowa.
“From tackling Biden’s border crisis, to standing up for law enforcement, or keeping Arizona’s economy growing, Kari is ready to fight for Arizona,” according to Reynolds. “In contrast, Katie Hobbs is nothing more than a radical far-left politician whose open borders, anti-law enforcement views are completely out of step with mainstream Arizona.”
Congrats to @KariLake who has inspired an entirely new generation of Republicans to show up and vote in Arizona. The @AZGOP is lucky to have one of the most inspiring and exciting candidates in America this cycle and I could not be more happy to get out and work for her. pic.twitter.com/XBJqfuppzV
Lake and Taylor Robson led a field of five Republicans seeking to take on Hobbs. One of those candidates was former Congressman Matt Salmon, who withdrew from the race in late June, past the deadline for having his name removed from the ballot.
Salmon received more than 27,700 primary votes despite throwing his support to Taylor Robson. Nearly 86 percent of those voters would have had to follow Salmon over to the Taylor Robson camp in order hold off Lake.
The other Republican candidates were Scott David Neely, who received almost 23,000 votes, and Paola “Z” Tulliani-Zen, who received nearly 15,500 votes.
On Tuesday, Republican gubernatorial candidate Matt Salmon ended his campaign, citing low polling numbers. Salmon received an average of 12 to 14 percent of the vote in recent polls against his top two contenders, Karrin Taylor Robson and Kari Lake.
“Unfortunately, numbers are numbers, and it has become clear to me that the path to a first-place victory is no longer a realistic possibility,” stated Salmon. “Republican primary voters deserve more than having their votes split on August 2nd, and so I am leaving this race for the same reason that I entered it: because it is what’s best for the people of Arizona.”
I've been blessed with the best supporters in the world – but numbers are numbers, and primary voters deserve more than having their votes split.
So, today, I am ending my #AZGov campaign for the same reason I entered it: Because it is what's best for the people of Arizona → pic.twitter.com/V2MaR10n9r
Salmon is the latest to drop out in the crowded Republican primary. Steve Gaynor withdrew at the end of April, also citing low polling numbers against top contenders Salmon, Lake, and Robson.
“This week I received survey results that showed I would have a high probability of winning against each of the other candidates in a head-to-head matchup,” wrote Gaynor. “In a three-way race, I would have a reasonable probability of winning. However, in a four-way race, my chance of winning is low enough to be unrealistic.”
— Steve Gaynor for Arizona Governor (@gaynorforgov) April 29, 2022
State Treasurer Kimberly Yee withdrew at the beginning of this year, deciding to run for re-election to her current office instead.
I am withdrawing from the Governor's race to stand for re-election as Treasurer. There is additional work to be done as the Treasurer of Arizona. As I transition my campaign, I want to thank my supporters and invite them to join me in my re-election efforts for Arizona Treasurer. pic.twitter.com/WiArCuBisQ
That leaves Robson, Lake, Scott Neely, and Paola Tulliani-Zen, along with several write-ins: Patrick Finerd, Carlos Roldan, and Alex Schatz. Robson and Lake are the top two contenders in the field at present.
The most recent poll from Trafalgar showed Lake with a 12-point lead over Robson.
However, Data Orbital polling from earlier this month revealed Lake with a four-point lead over Robson. The pollsters have an A/B rating from FiveThirtyEight.
Another poll from OH Predictive Insights this month showed Lake with an even smaller margin of two points.
Real Clear Politics averaged Lake at a seven-point lead ahead of Robson.
The Democratic primary is far smaller: Secretary of State Katie Hobbs is up against businessman and career politician Marco Lopez. Former state legislator Aaron Lieberman withdrew last month.
OH Predictive Insights has consistently shown Hobbs with a comfortable lead over Lopez. In May, the pollsters found that 43 percent of those surveyed would vote for Hobbs, while only 9 percent would vote for Lopez. However, 40 percent reported that they were undecided.
Predictive polling on who would win the governor’s race consistently showed Hobbs with a lead.
According to a May poll from GQR Research which Hobbs sponsored, the secretary of state led Robson by one point and Lake by five points. GQR has a B rating from FiveThirtyEight.
Data Orbital polling from February, which has an A/B rating, reported slightly different leads: Hobbs would lead Robson by five points and Salmon by one point, but Lake would lead Hobbs by one point.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
