Is Kari Lake the True Successor to Donald Trump?

This month, Kari Lake, the Republican candidate for governor in Arizona, seemingly refused to commit to accepting the results of her election.

"I'm going to win the election, and I will accept that result," Lake told Dana Bash on CNN's State of the Union on October 16.

"If you lose, will you accept that?" Bash asked.

"I'm going to win the election, and I will accept that result," Lake repeated. "The people of Arizona will never support and vote for a coward like Katie Hobbs who won't show up on a debate stage."

Her stance underscores the ways Lake has utilized former president Donald Trump's playbook and imitated his rhetoric to rise to the top of the GOP ticket in Arizona, lobbing insults at her opponent and laying the groundwork for her to question the results of the election if Hobbs, Arizona's Democratic secretary of state, were to win the race in a state narrowly carried by President Joe Biden in 2020.

In a recent interview with AZ Family, she said she did not trust that the November election would be fair but urged her supporters to turn out in big numbers.

"I think we all know we have to vote," she said. "Absolutely, we got to vote and we got to vote in droves, and we have to send a very loud and clear message that we do want honest elections, we do want a secure border, so you have to get out and vote and I believe we can out-vote some of the problems."

Lake narrowly won the GOP nomination after making Trump's false claims of widespread fraud in the 2020 election the centerpiece of her primary campaign, and taking tough stances on abortion and immigration.

On abortion, Lake told ABC15 Arizona this month: "I'm pro-woman, and I want to make sure that women have healthcare. I want to make sure women have access to birth control and I want to make sure women are treated with respect."

She added: "My stance is that I'm pro-life and I want to save as many babies as possible."

On the border issue, she said: "I will issue a declaration of invasion on day one. Hour one. First thing we're going to do. And we're going to send the National Guard. We're going to send other resources."

'Trump in Heels'

She "definitely used the Trump strategy" to win the GOP nomination, Dave Wells, an Arizona State University lecturer who teaches political science, told Newsweek.

"Kari Lake recognized really early on that the Republican Party space was really strongly connected with Trump and really played that up," he said, noting how she has been described as "Trump in heels."

Wells said: "Generally, that's how you you go places in the Republican Party these days... you become very controversial, you get on Fox News and you blast your opponents, you never get any hard questions, and and then you end up getting massive amounts of donations."

The GOP primary race in Arizona became a proxy fight between Trump and Gov. Doug Ducey, who drew the former president's ire for certifying Biden's win in the state in 2020. While Ducey, who is limited to two terms as governor and cannot run again, backed housing developer Karrin Taylor Robson, Trump threw his weight behind Lake.

"She is strong on Crime, will protect our Border, Second Amendment, Military, and Vets, and will fight to restore Election Integrity (both past and future!)," Trump said in his September 2021 endorsement.

"She will do a far better job than RINO Governor Doug Ducey—won't even be a contest! Kari will make her wonderful family, and the MAGA movement, very proud."

Since then, she has visited his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida and spoken alongside Trump at rallies.

Lake also "trashed Governor Ducey, she went after anybody who had not really stood up as against the stolen election, quote, unquote," Wells said. "She bashed them and she didn't have any problems with calling them RINOs... and that was very much like Trump."

Now, unlike other Trump-backed election-denying candidates who are trailing their opponents in the polls, Lake remains in a strong position and is ahead of Hobbs by 1.4 percentage points in the RealClearPolitics average of polls.

A Familiar Face

Though a first-time candidate for office, Lake is familiar to Arizonans—she spent 22 years as an anchor at KSAZ-TV, the Fox affiliate in Phoenix, before quitting journalism in March 2021.

"She was in people's living rooms for years as a news reporter," Stefanie Lindquist, a professor of law and political sciences at ASU's Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law, told Newsweek.

"So she's coming to her candidacy with incredible name recognition and with a personal relationship, if you want to call it that, with voters who have come to know her as a deliverer of the news. That is an incredible position to be in to run for governor with that kind of background."

She's an "effective speaker," Wells added. "It comes across pretty well when she presents herself on TV."

Lake "is Donald Trump in lipstick. But she delivers her divisiveness in the calm and measured tones of a person reading the news rather than a man who froths at the mic," Charles M. Blow wrote in a recent op-ed in The New York Times.

Lake has used those skills to "rise to the top of the MAGA candidates" on the ballot, Lindquist said.

Other prominent Republicans like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, widely believed to be preparing for a White House run in 2024, don't fall into that category as much, she said.

But Wells believes as governor, Lake could emulate DeSantis and push similar bills that he has signed into law in Florida, such as the "Don't Say Gay" bill.

"Given her TV background, if she becomes governor, she is very likely to become a very, very strong national figure," Wells said. "I expect she'll do a lot of things that DeSantis has done… So that's going to build up her broader base whether it's good for the state or not good for the state."

"In terms of national prominence, in terms of her political acumen and her persona, I think she's the most compelling MAGA candidate," Lindquist added, referring to Lake's appeal to Trump's base.

That appeal has led to some suggesting that Lake would be Trump's vice presidential pick should he win the Republican nomination in 2024.

National Review editor Rich Lowry wrote in a column last week: "She checks a lot of boxes as a VP pick: a 'stop the steal' true-believer who, unlike Doug Mastriano and his ilk, would have demonstrated political viability; a governor from a swing state that Trump lost in 2020; a woman; a politician who has thoroughly absorbed the spirit of Trumpian politics as combat and theater; and a name that can generate big crowds. She'd be Trump's Sarah Palin, except the match would be much more natural."

Lake dismissed the speculation, telling ABC's This Week on Sunday that she would serve two terms as Arizona's governor. "The media is trying to scare the public I'm going to leave," she said.

Newsweek has contacted the Lake campaign and Donald Trump's spokesperson for comment.