PHOENIX, Ariz. – Arizona GOP Senate candidate Kari Lake told Fox News Digital that illegal immigration has disproportionately hammered residents of her state which she says has created a “double whammy” that will result in GOP wins in the state in November.
“I think most Americans think that they have driven us right over the edge, over the cliff,” Lake told Fox News Digital about the policies of the Biden-Harris administration. “And we’re hoping that we can pull this back come November and that’s what we plan to do. But our polling shows that the economy is really affecting everybody. The border is affecting everybody.”
Lake explained to Fox News Digital that the current administration’s border policies have disproportionately hurt Arizona particularly when it comes to housing costs.
“It’s basic supply and demand,” Lake said. “21 million people coming in, even if you take the estimate that Joe Biden and Kamala are giving, which is 10 million, they’ve got to live somewhere. They’re living in homes and apartments and hotels and these are taking away housing opportunities for Americans and also jacking up the prices as well. Because right now, when you have a very limited supply of housing, which we do, we have not built enough homes and apartments in the past 20 years to keep up with the demand. So now all of a sudden, you add 21 million people, you’ve got a supply and demand issue. You got you don’t have enough supply and you have a lot of demand.“
Fox News Digital spoke to AZ GOP Sen. candidate Kari Lake in Phoenix, AZ (Getty Images)
Lake continued, “We know that these people that are pouring across our country illegally, that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are bringing in hand-holding and saying, yes, please come in and we will supply you housing, federally subsidized housing, which means you and I are paying for it. And we will give you an ID card with thousands of dollars a month to pay for your food. They don’t have living expenses like the American people do. The American people are barely getting by because living expenses have gone up so they can then afford to take these jobs making less than the going rate, which takes Americans salaries and hourly wages and depresses them or pushes them down. So it’s a double whammy and it’s really affecting Arizona particularly hard.”
On inflation, Lake pointed to data showing that Phoenix was at one point the hardest hit city in the country.
“I talk to more Arizonans than anybody in the whole country,” Lake told Fox News Digital. “I have a better relationship with the people of Arizona, I think, than anybody in the country and they’re struggling. You know, it kills me to see families and people who are retiring or retirees, Arizona used to be an affordable state it’s not so much anymore, who are telling me now, Kari, I’ve never had to go to a food bank in my life. As a matter of fact, I used to donate to food banks. Now I’m finding myself there every couple of weeks just to make ends meet. I can’t even afford the basics. It breaks my heart because the people of this state are incredible, hard working people.”
FLASHBACK: ARIZONA DEM SENATE CANDIDATE CALLED TRUMP VOTERS ‘DUMB’: ‘WORST PEOPLE IN THE WORLD’
US Senate candidate Kari Lake speaks during a campaign rally of former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump at the Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Arizona, August 23, 2024. (Photo by Olivier TOURON / AFP) (Photo by OLIVIER TOURON/AFP via Getty Images)
“They don’t deserve this and they don’t want to be asking for a handout, but they’re working as hard as they ever have. Some of them are doing two jobs and there’s not enough hours in the day. They can’t work any harder than they already are and they’re still not making ends meet. So it’s very distressing for the people and it’s distressing for me because I really, truly love the people of the state.“
Lake, who is running for Senate against Dem. Rep. Ruben Gallego who she says is responsible for supporting the Harris-Biden immigration and inflation record, told Fox News Digital that she believes Republicans will have success in November as a result of those policies.
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Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at Cochise College Douglas Campus in Douglas, Ariz., Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
“Every main issue that we’re facing as a country somehow seems to kind of come right through Arizona and this is why I feel so comfortable that we’re going to win this because, well, first of all, we’re registering voters left to right,” Lake said.
“People are saying, yep, we’re voting, we’re going to become a Republican. People who’ve never been a Republican before are now registered Republicans…We’re calling people who haven’t voted in a number of elections, people who maybe skipped the last 4 or 5 elections. I guess they are called low propensity voters and we’re asking, are you going to vote? And they’re saying, ‘Hell, yes, I’m going to vote. Absolutely, I’m going to vote. I’m struggling right now. This is the first election I voted in a number of elections.’ But this one really matters. I think it’s our last election. If we don’t get this right as a free America.”
Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment but did not receive a response.