Like many Arizonans, I grew up in a family with some divided political allegiances. My parents were registered Republicans, but politics was something we kept to ourselves. And like millions of Americans, we dutifully voted each election, but around the dinner table, politics was far from the conversation -- and most of the voters I talk to on the campaign trail today would welcome a return to that.
In this way, my family reflected the reality of millions of Americans -- homes where we may have privately disagreed about politics, but never about our shared values.
In my family, and in our country, far more united us than divided us. That reality seems hard to imagine right now.
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I was born and grew up here in Arizona, a state that mirrored that independent, bipartisan spirit, with a long history of leaders that put country before their political party. Icons like John McCain, the maverick of the Senate. Or Janet Napolitano, who worked with a divided legislature to reform our state's education system while balancing the budget. But in today’s polarized environment, those on the extremes have turned "bipartisanship" into a dirty word.
Let’s be clear here -- the Republican Party of the past is gone. It’s been replaced by MAGA, which puts allegiance to the former president over anything else: policy, values, or our country.
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It’s true across the country, and it’s true here in Arizona. The party of Barry Goldwater and John McCain is gone. The new GOP is led by extremist, radical stone throwers like Kari Lake who disparage great Americans like McCain, and are more interested in garnering headlines and booking cable news hits than actually delivering on the issues facing Arizonans.
Instead of finding common ground, they’re demonizing people they see as disloyal -- even other Republicans. And instead of delivering a policy agenda that will solve the massive issues facing our state: rampant inflation, a housing crisis, or the water shortage, they’re looking to support their attention-seeking behavior by going viral on social media.
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In lieu of solutions to those pressing problems, Kari Lake has promised: to risk millions of dollars by threatening the Super Bowl in Arizona, would like to undo the 2020 election and put government cameras in our classrooms to spy on children. She has even threatened to arrest some FBI and DOJ agents if they come to Arizona. And those "plans" on her website? Experts say her economic plan would add ‘jet fuel’ to inflation, exacerbating an affordability crisis for our state when millions of Arizonans need relief.
These aren’t small policy differences. This isn’t a small disagreement between Democratic or Republican ideas. This is about a simple choice -- between sanity and chaos, and whether we want to continue to live in a democracy where our Constitution and country come first.
It’s about ensuring our children can grow up in a state where they don’t have to worry about putting food on the table or getting the health care they need.
Kari Lake isn’t a small business, small government conservative. Kari Lake is an extremist firebrand who isn’t qualified, or even interested, in tackling the challenges facing our state.
We can’t risk our state’s future on another TV personality.
We can’t risk Kari Lake.
