Kari Lake, who in the span of two years transformed herself from a veteran local television news anchor into a tribune of the far-right political movement, won Arizona’s Republican primary for governor, according to The Associated Press.
Ms. Lake prevailed over a field that included Karrin Taylor Robson — an ally of Gov. Doug Ducey, a Republican who defied former President Donald J. Trump by defending the results of Arizona’s 2020 election — and two other candidates.
Ms. Lake will face Katie Hobbs, Arizona’s Democratic secretary of state, in the general election. Mr. Ducey is prohibited by term limits from seeking re-election.
In a statement on Thursday night after her race was called, Ms. Lake took a jab at the election process and Ms. Hobbs as she claimed victory. “Though the results took longer than they should have, Arizonans who have been forgotten by the establishment just delivered a political earthquake,” she said.
Nearly as soon as she left her Phoenix TV station in the spring of 2021, Ms. Lake began repeatedly proclaiming that Mr. Trump, who endorsed her that fall, had been cheated out of a second term in office. After spending 25 years in local television, she attacked the news media as corrupt.
The contest was the latest primary for governor to become a proxy war between Mr. Trump and establishment Republican power brokers.
As in Maryland and Illinois, where Trump-endorsed candidates toppled rivals backed by local G.O.P. officials, Ms. Lake’s victory signaled the declining power of party donors and television spending. Ms. Taylor Robson, a developer who served on the Arizona Board of Regents, largely paid for her campaign herself, spending millions more on TV advertising than Ms. Lake did.
But in the end, Mr. Trump’s endorsement proved more valuable than anything Ms. Taylor Robson could buy.
