MSNBC reporter Vaughn Hillyard called out Kari Lake—a QAnon adherent and election denier who was the Republican nominee in Arizona's gubernatorial race—and said she lost her race because embraced former Republican President Donald Trump's false election fraud narrative.
Hillyard said Lake "predicated her campaign on trying to sell the Big Lie, in trying to sell the conspiracy theories" that the 2020 general election was stolen and that the electoral system at large is rife with fraud and abuse.
But, he noted, this is "the third election cycle in a row" in which the people of Arizona have rejected Trump's narrative, and her decision to campaign alongside prominent Trumpist figures like the White nationalist Steve Bannon contributed to why she lost her race.
You can hear what Hillyard said in the video below.
Hillyard said:
“This is the third election cycle in a row in which Arizonans rejected Trumpism in the final week of her campaign. Who did she campaign alongside?"
"She campaigned alongside Steve Bannon. She campaigned alongside one of the chief promoters of Pizzagate. She campaigned alongside an individual who promoted the notion of the war on White people."
"She campaigned alongside State Senator Wendy Rogers, who just earlier this year was here in Florida, speaking at a White nationalist conference. Somebody who frequently spews anti-Semitism."
"This is an individual who just last week called her Democratic opponent a pervert. This is an individual who suggested there should be perp walks for elections officials and criminal charges against individuals who oversaw the COVID response in 2020 in Arizona."
"This is an individual who’s celebrating, putting a dagger into the McCain machine.”
“She asserted that Cindy McCain wants to end America. She called Mike Lindell one of the great patriots of our time. She said Dinesh D’Souza is one of the greatest patriots in America."
"She suggested Paul Gosar was the kind of lawmaker our founding fathers envisioned. She called the media the right hand of the devil, the scourge of the earth."
"If that doesn’t sound like Donald Trump? I don’t know what does."
"And ultimately, the big question was, was she going to be able to make that sale here? And the answer is no, according to Arizona voters.”
Many concurred with Hillyard's assessment.
Hillyard has sparred with Lake before.
Over the summer, he confronted her over her baseless claim she had detected "some stealing" ahead of the midterm elections.
Lake said “we’re already detecting some stealing going on” and she’s “not gonna let them steal an election." Her unsupported claims received pushback from Hillyard, who noted despite her claims she has not "even laid out any fraud or irregularities."
She went on to accuse Hillyard of working for "MSDNC" after saying he is the "last person on the planet Earth I would tell about what we discovered."
A visibly annoyed Hillyard challenged her further, noting despite her claim she had discovered a crime, she had no interest in "reporting it to the authorities."
@skylergisondo/Instagram
@Pretefunkera/X
@bonnieblue2025/X
@Andie00471/X
