Arizona sheriffs knock Kari Lake remarks about GOP challenger

A group of Arizona sheriffs knocked GOP Senate candidate Kari Lake in a statement Friday over remarks she made about a challenger in a recent online forum.

Lake called Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb, a Republican rival in the Senate primary, a “total coward when it comes to election integrity” in an Association of Mature American Citizens (AMAC) Action forum on May 23.

“Kari Lake’s recent comment calling Sheriff Mark Lamb a ‘coward’ is both unfounded and disrespectful,” said the statement, signed by nine sheriffs and three candidates for county sheriff.

“We want to make it clear: neither Sheriff Mark Lamb nor any law enforcement officer who wears a badge and uniform, putting their life on the line every day to protect and serve our communities, is a coward,” the statement added.

“Arizona voters expect better from a political candidate, especially when they are running for the U.S. Senate.”

During the candidate forum last month, Lake, who promotes false claims that former President Trump won the 2020 election, pointed out the contrast with Lamb.

“My opponent stood before Congress and said there was no fraud in the 2020 election,” Lake said, adding that he had said in a recent Univision interview that there was no fraud in Arizona during that election.

“And I know that anybody who is on this call, from Arizona, must be rolling their eyes when they hear that,” she added.

Lake ran for governor in the Grand Canyon State in 2022, but narrowly lost to current Gov. Katie Hobbs (D). As well as questioning President Biden winning the state in 2020, she has also questioned the results of her own election two years ago, though courts have tossed out he legal challenges.

“The elections are run poorly. They’re — they’re run very poorly, and I don’t know who exactly stole the election, but there are a lot of people who are running elections poorly, and we’ve seen the results,” Lake said.  

In an emailed statement to The Hill, a spokesperson for Lake simply said “Who?”

Updated June 8 at 3:30 p.m.