Kari Lake Trolled With Photo of Her Urged Off Stage at Trump Rally

Arizona Republican U.S. Senate candidate Kari Lake was trolled on Friday by her Democratic opponent, Representative Ruben Gallego, with a photo of her being urged to get off the stage while speaking at a rally for former President Donald Trump.

Lake, a loyal ally to Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, was a speaker at the former president's rally in Glendale, Arizona, on Friday. Late Friday night, Gallego posted a photo on X, formerly Twitter, showing what appeared to be the back of Lake and a teleprompter pointing toward her that read, "Please get off stage. Trump waiting."

"MAGA Republicans finally catching up to the rest of Arizona. @KariLake," the Arizona congressman wrote alongside the photo.

Trump rallies usually start hours before the former president actually takes the stage and that time is filled with Republican speakers who are aligned with him.

Newsweek has reached out to Gallego and Trump's campaign via email and Lake's campaign via online form for comment on Saturday morning.

Representative Wiley Nickel, a North Carolina Democrat, replied to Gallego's post, with a laughing emoji and wrote: "This is photo of MAGA extremist Kari Lake being told by Trump to get off the stage! The #AZSenchoice is crystal clear. We need @RubenGallego in the US Senate."

Meghan McCain, the daughter of the late Arizona Senator John McCain who has rebuked Lake on X before, laughed at images of the GOP Senate candidate being told to get off the stage.

McCain's tension with Lake is rooted in Lake's attacks on her father during her previous failed run for Arizona governor. Lake said at a rally in November 2022, "We don't have any McCain Republicans in here, do we? Get the hell out!" Last February, Lake said in an interview with an Arizona radio station that she had been joking when she ridiculed John McCain during the 2022 election cycle.

Lake, a 2020 election denier who backs "America First" policies, will go up against Gallego, a fifth-term U.S. congressman and former U.S. Marine who served in Iraq, in November for the seat of Senator Kyrsten Sinema, a Democrat turned independent who is not seeking reelection.

It was announced on Thursday that Lake and Gallego will have a debate on October 9 hosted by the non-partisan Arizona's Clean Elections Commission and the Arizona Media Association.

Lake wrote on X early Sunday morning, "After 3 months of Gallego dodging my debate challenge, we finally have our first debate scheduled. Arizonans will get to see the contrast between my common sense & his radicalism. I look forward to debating Ruben as many times as possible — anywhere & anytime."

Meanwhile, Gallego has already committed to the debate, saying in a statement on August 16, "I look forward to participating in the Clean Elections Debate on October 9th, in keeping with Arizona tradition. I believe Arizonans deserve to hear firsthand about the choice in this election between a Marine combat veteran with a lifetime of service and someone who is only in this race for herself."

Lake, meanwhile, ran for Arizona governor in 2022 against Democrat Katie Hobbs. However, when Lake lost, she claimed the election was stolen, just like the claims she has made about Joe Biden's 2020 election victory. There is no evidence to support widespread voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election or Arizona's 2022 gubernatorial election.

During her speech on Friday, Lake told the crowd, "I'm extremely worried about what my opponent Ruben Gallego will do to the state we love. I'm running against the most radical man to ever run for office in Arizona history."

In a press release earlier this month announcing a coalition of 40 Arizona Republicans and independents supporting Gallego, the Democratic Senate candidate called for finding common ground between all political parties.

"I am running for the U.S. Senate to represent all Arizonans, regardless of where they live or what political party they align themselves with," Gallego said. "We may not agree on everything, but we can find common ground on one essential goal: building a better Arizona."

Update 8/25/24, 1:17 p.m. ET: This article has been updated with additional information.