Kari Lake claims Gallego is ‘controlled by the cartels’: VIDEO

Failed Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake has ramped up her racism in the final weeks of her Arizona Senate campaign, airing the baseless claim on Newsmax that her opponent, Democrat Ruben Gallego, has ties to Colombian drug cartels.

Lake, who trails Gallego in every poll, incorrectly suggested that Gallego is not serious about confronting cartels and that he will not work to secure the border in Arizona:

‘I want to confront the cartels. He was controlled by the cartels. His own father was a Colombian transvestite trafficker. He has ties to the cartel, and that is very worrying.”

You can hear what she said in the video below.

Lake’s words were intended to link Gallego to Colombia’s drug trade, one of the world’s most extensive and responsible for a long history of violence and political conflict. Gallego is Mexican on his father’s side and Colombian on his mother’s side, so to say this is a racist dog whistle is an understatement.

And for those who don’t know, she previously called Gallego “Biden’s favorite congressman” and accused him, along with other Democrats, of turning over control of Arizona’s border to drug cartels. She also blamed them for fentanyl overdose deaths among young people in the Grand Canyon State.

Lake was quickly called.

In September, 11 polls of likely voters in Arizona showed Gallego with a lead of 4 to 14 points in all polls. In all, he has taken the lead in 45 of 48 polls since Kyrsten Sinema, a former Democrat who became an independent, announced she would not seek re-election.

As she campaigns for this year’s election, Lake continues to dispute the results of her 2022 election challenge, which she has lost at every level of Arizona’s legal system. The Arizona Supreme Court has punished her attorneys for making false claims in legal documents related to illegal ballots counted in Maricopa County in 2022. One of her attorneys was recently suspended from practicing law for 60 days due to this misconduct.

In addition, Lake faces a defamation lawsuit filed in June 2023 by Republican Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer, who accused her of falsely claiming he deliberately sabotaged the 2022 election.

Lake has already legally admitted that her statements about Richer were untrue, and the case is currently ongoing to determine how much compensation Richer is entitled to.