BUCK: Kari Lake is running for governor of Arizona. She’s joined us now to talk about what’s going on in her state and in the run-ups to these very important midterm elections, what the primary issues of concern are. Kari, great to talk to you again.

LAKE: It’s great to be on. How are you?

BUCK: I’m good. You know, Clay and I have been a little… trying to raise attention here and maybe ring the alarm bell a little bit in some races where we just think there needs to be more focus on the issues and less tactics of distraction from the Democrat media seeping into people’s decision-making.

Immigration is something that we talk about and specifically illegal immigration is something we talk about a lot on this show because, Kari, I mean, you’re in a border state, a major one, Arizona. You’re running for governor there. The border’s the worst that it’s ever been, and I think the American people are starting to figure that out in a way that could have a real impact in just a couple months.

LAKE: Oh, totally. I mean, it’s been really the number-one issue all along in our campaign. We’ve spoken to tens of thousands of voters, residents of Arizona, and they’re concerned about it because it’s not just, you know, the nearly five million people, or just over four million I should say that have come in illegally since Joe Biden took office. It’s the tons of fentanyl and other deadly, dangerous drugs coming in.

I have been consistent on the border crisis from Day One.

Arizona is being invaded.

And what do you do when your home is under attack?

You Defend It.https://t.co/BKMkFgiIQc pic.twitter.com/mp6bLHWXog

— Kari Lake (@KariLake) August 30, 2022

And that’s what people are really tired of. We are the pipeline right now for poisonous fentanyl, which is the number one killer of our young people in this country. I just was talking to a sheriff yesterday who told me since January, 33 kids have died in Arizona of fentanyl overdose poisoning, and seven of those children had been under the age of one.

We have to secure or border. We have to take back control from the cartels. Joe Biden took what was the most secure border we’ve ever had in Arizona, turned it into a complete joke where the narco-terrorists are in control. And my opponent, Hobbs, doesn’t have a plan for that border. She doesn’t even think there’s a problem.

CLAY: Kari, you’re getting ripped and attacked like crazy. What I love about you is you are super poised. Like, it doesn’t seem like any of this — these attacks really land on you. Do you attribute that to being — I’m just genuinely curious. Do you attribute that to being in television where there’s constantly like — people don’t know how live television works.

Like, there’s always kind of chaos around you, and you have to stay super calm even, you know, as you’re addressing your audience. What do you attribute that to? Because I think it’s very character of your campaign so far. You’ve been kind of in the midst of a maelstrom, of a frenzy, and you just stay super calm and just keep going forward.

LAKE: I never thought of that. I mean, maybe being in, you know, in journalism for 30 years, much of that time on live television where you have to keep things, you know, moving. You can’t be distracted by what’s happening around you. So, I think I do have that ability to focus. I’ve always been a focused kid. If I put my mind to something when I was young, I would accomplish it. I’m determined.

And so, I think that helps. But also, I have the truth on my side. And so, when I’m being attacked in these ads, I just look at these ads and go, it’s so ridiculous what they’re saying about me. I’ve been in the homes of Arizonans for 27 years. They know who I am, and I just don’t believe they’re gonna buy these lies. And turns out they didn’t.

BREAKING: One of the most massive single groups we have ever witnessed cross illegally at the border is crossing into Eagle Pass, TX right now. The line of people went so far into the trees it’s hard to get a count. Hundreds upon hundreds. Coyotes guiding them in water. @FoxNews pic.twitter.com/ZjZIygarAv

— Bill Melugin (@BillFOXLA) July 13, 2022

And so, Katie Hobbs is trying to hide in her basement right now and use a bunch of dirty, dark money to run attack ads on me. And I just don’t think they’re landing because the people of Arizona know me, they know I’m serious about solving our problems. I’ve laid out my policy, and every chance I get I talk about my policy. Because the policy and the plans I have for Arizona will solve these problems that we’ve been dealing with for a long time, and they’ll be good for all Arizonans, whether they’re Democrat, independent, or Republican.

I mean, everybody wants to take back control from the border, from the cartel and stop the drugs from coming across, stop people from being trafficked. Everybody wants to have a healthy economy where we can actually afford our gas and our groceries. Everybody wants to have a school where our kids are actually learning things that will help them in life, not getting a brainwashing. So, I think when it comes down to it, we just have the better policies. I know I’m standing in the truth. So, I’m not caught off guard, and I’m not letting it distract me from what we need to do here.

BUCK: We’re talking to Kari Lake. She is the Republican nominee for the governor’s mansion in Arizona. And, Kari, what does your opponent think about all the illegal immigration that’s happening in general but more specifically how it affects your state, the rise in fentanyl overdoses, the rise in usage of public services, the expense of all this. What does she say? Does she ever get asked about this or does the media just constantly running cover?

LAKE: It’s kind of comical because one of her own supporters — and we just got this on tape the other day, on video — one of her supporters who goes door knocking for her said, hey, will you help me out? I get asked about the border, what your plans are be, and I really don’t know how to answer it. And it was really humorous because she didn’t know how to answer it. And I realized at that moment, oh, my gosh. She doesn’t have a plan for the border.

When she says we’re gonna leave it in Joe Biden’s hand, that really is her plan. She doesn’t think we have a problem. She doesn’t realize or she wants to ignore the problem. We have an invasion on our border, and she doesn’t have a plan for it. And even the Democrat voters out there are obviously asking about it when her door knockers go to their door. And so, I want them to know we have a plan.

We’re gonna secure the border starting on day one, we’re gonna call it what it is. It’s an invasion…biggest invasion our country has ever seen on home soil since the founding of the United States of America. And we’re gonna stop it here in Arizona.

And Governor DeSantis has already said he would help out, he’ll send National Guard troops from Florida. I know we can get cooperation from other like-minded governors to send resources here because if we don’t protect the border, it affects every other state. And the other states are getting sick of it as well.

CLAY: Kari, a lot of talk about what the movement to different states has meant post-covid. Arizona, obviously, has seen a lot of people move into its state since the covid madness has started, many of those people from California. As you’re going around the state, do you think many of those people moved who are Republicans, Democrats? How will population shift, in your mind, impact this upcoming election?

LAKE: You know, I believe we’re a red state. We’re a conservative state. We still have that wild west kind of streak in all of us. We want our freedom. And that’s why covid was such an eye-opener for people because we watched as our freedoms were taken away. And Arizonans don’t take kindly to that. And other people from California, Washington, Illinois, New Jersey — I mean, I see people all the time on the campaign trail who say, we moved here because Arizona was more free than the state that we left.

So, many of the Californians that are coming here — I’m gonna honest — I see a lot of conservatives. They’re coming to our events saying, we don’t want to see Arizona go blue because we just left a blue state, a Democrat-run state where we had no power, they hurt our businesses, they hurt our children’s education, they locked us down, and we do not want to see Arizona go that direction.

And some of my most ardent supporters are transplants from these blue states who packed up, sold their businesses, sold everything, and moved to Arizona for freedom. And they don’t want to see that freedom being taken away by someone like Hobbs.

BUCK: What’s the top of the agenda, Kari, if and when you become the next governor of Arizona, which we certainly hope is gonna be the case?

LAKE: Number one, border. We’ve gotta secure that border. We have to stop the drugs from pouring in. We have a drug addiction epidemic, and we’re seeing it on our streets. I’ve got a plan to end chronic street homelessness and finally restore quality of life to the hardworking taxpayers who want their parks back, they want their streets back. We’re gonna help people who are struggling, get them back on their feet, and we’re not gonna allow people to just live that drug addled life on the streets. It’s not compassionate.

We want to also bring about dual track education for our children so that after tenth grade they can decide in Arizona if they want to do the four-year college degree, that’s great. If they want to get skills training, vocational training, and career certification right there in high school so they can leave high school ready for the good jobs that are out there in Arizona. We want to prepare our kids.

And we want to restore medical freedom and privacy. We’ve lost so much of that during covid. I will never require our children to put masks on ever again. It hurt their health. It hurt their learning. And I will fight back any business who tries to force an experimental shot on their employees who simply want to make a living and put food on the table. We’re just gonna restore some sanity and common sense in Arizona and give people their freedom back.

CLAY: Kari Lake the next governor of Arizona, we believe will be her. We appreciate the time. We’ll talk to you again soon. Good luck on the campaign trail.

LAKE: Thanks, guys. Bye-bye.