Trump vs. Pence in Arizona

The highest-profile race in Arizona’s August 2 primary is the Republican gubernatorial duel, pitting Kari Lake, a former newscaster at Phoenix’s Fox affiliate, against Karrin Taylor Robson, a former member of the state’s Board of Regents.

Trump has endorsed Lake, who has embraced his voter-fraud claims hook, line, and sinker, while former VP Mike Pence endorsed Robson, who has the support of most of the GOP establishment. While Robson has blamed liberal judges and big tech for helping tilt the 2020 presidential race to Biden, she has stopped far short of embracing Trump’s conspiracy theories.

Lake is considered the front-runner, but only two major pollsters have surveyed Arizona voters, with one of them showing Lake’s lead has wilted, most likely in response to Robson’s aggressive advertising campaign targeting Lake’s credibility and her political inexperience.

Both Trump and Pence campaigned in Arizona over the weekend. Trump garnered the biggest headlines, mainly for his statement blaming Pence for most everything that ails the country, including Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, global inflation, high gas prices, and America’s panicky withdrawal from Afghanistan. In the world according to Trump, none of this would have happened if he were still president, and the reason he isn’t president is that Pence refused to use power he didn’t really have to stop the Electoral College from certifying the results of the 2020 presidential election.