A leaked audio recording has rocked Arizona’s political universe.
It exposed Arizona Republican Party Chair Jeff DeWit offering former gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake money if she declined to run for U.S. Senate in 2024. DeWit resigned after the recording was made public, saying that Lake’s team had threatened to release another “more damaging” recording if he remained at the party’s helm.
The saga is the latest example of Lake using audio and video recordings as a political bludgeon.
While running for governor, Lake, who has railed against what she sees as bias in news coverage, would regularly record her interactions with reporters, at times arriving at campaign events wearing a microphone. After the election, Lake’s campaign posted a video of a phone call where a Maricopa County attorney used profanity and raised his voice in response to comments from the campaign that he considered threatening.
Lake has employed the same tactic while running for Senate. She wore a microphone while she and Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., the front-running Democrat in the race, clashed over immigration in a filmed encounter at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.