Arizona GOP gubernatorial nominee Kari Lake discusses border, voucher expansion, economy

PHOENIX — Kari Lake is the Republican gubernatorial nominee in Arizona looking to replace term-limited Gov. Doug Ducey in the Nov. 8 general election.

Lake joined KTAR News 92.3 FM’s The Mike Broomhead Show on Wednesday to give her thoughts on the border, school voucher expansion and the state of the economy.

Questions have been edited for clarity:

Q: One of the things that might be out of your control but you can have an impact on is the border. Vice President Kamala Harris said a couple of days ago that the border is secure. Do you agree?

A: I’d love to have her come down and see what I’ve seen, especially over the last year and a half on the border. We all know what the reality is, she’s so out of touch and truly she and Joe Biden are the problem.

Q: Where do you stand on the school voucher expansion?

A: Oh, I’m for 100% … we had a great accomplishment. The Legislature and Gov. Ducey signed that into law. The money now follows the student and it gives people an opportunity to lift themselves up and truly get a great education if they are in a school that’s a failing school or that they simply don’t like the curriculum or they just want to send their kids off to a private school, but never in their wildest imagination would they ever be able to afford it. Now with this, they can.

Q: The vouchers are giving kids an opportunity at a different career path without the student debt, right?

A: I always use the example down in the Vail School District (in southern Arizona) and their welding program. First of all, I was able to go and tour their vocational training that they put on in their school and the kids are so happy … these kids were absolutely engaged. They knew they were learning a skill that they would be able to use the rest of their lives and every single one of them, 100% of those students graduate with a job offer, making $70,000 to $100,000 with full benefits.

Q: Is there anything the governor and the Legislature can do to ease inflation and what do we do in Arizona to try to make it better for families that are getting more money, but they just can’t keep up with inflation?

A: A 13% increase is huge. I was talking to an economist a couple of weeks ago — and this is before this report came out — and he said to keep up with inflation a couple weeks ago, you would have needed to get a $9,000 raise. I don’t know anybody who’s getting raises like that. Now, it’s even worse. And here we have a unique problem.

Most of this inflation is because of our lack of housing and increased housing costs, so we need to build homes and we need to build them quickly and help get people in those homes and we’ll do whatever we can to help pull back some of the regulations so that builders can actually get the shovel in the ground without it taking five years. But we we’ve got to get homes built quickly.

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