Kari Lake has gone from local news anchor to scourge of the mainstream media as she campaigns for crucial position as Arizona governor
Hours after she was crowned the Republican candidate in Arizona’s governor’s race, Kari Lake stormed on to stage wielding a sledgehammer.
Lifting it high above her head, she vowed to take it to the state’s electronic voting machines, which she blames for Donald Trump’s defeat in the 2020 election.
The prop makes a regular appearance in Ms Lake’s campaigning, as she attacks Covid-19 restrictions, weak border policies, “sketchy elections” and the media.
“I’m taking a sledgehammer to all of it,” Ms Lake vows in slick adverts showing her smashing a TV screen playing CNN.It is the sort of stunt, combined with her telegenic looks and on-stage magnetism, that has propelled Ms Lake into the national spotlight as a leader for the next generation of Trumpism.