Tag: karrin taylor robson

Matt Salmon Failing to Gain Traction

On By AZ ConservativeIn GovernorLeave a comment

Matt Salmon recently released his own Border Security Plan, months after the other candidates released theres and containing many of the same ideas. Too little too late seems like the appropriate way to describe not only this plan but the Matt Salmon for Governor campaign as a whole.

Matt Salmon is a former Congressman and State Senator who is running to replace Republican Governor Doug Ducey who is termed out in 2022. Early on many believed Matt Salmon was going to be the frontrunner of this race and run away with it but recent and ample polling has shown that he is not resinating with voters.

Matt is endorsed by the powerful advocacy group Club for Growth and early on in the campaign they released a poll with Matt Salmon well ahead of competitor Karrin Taylor Robson, however, recent polling shows that both political newcomers Karrin Taylor Robson and Kari Lake are beating Matt badly and repeatedly.

Other competitors such as Steve Gaynor have already seen the writing on the wall; that this is a two person race, and exited to live to fight another day.

However, Matt Salmon has shown no indication that he is leaving the race and that may become a factor in how the race turns out. It also brings up a good questions, who would benefit from Matt Salmon leaving the race, business leader Karrin Taylor Robson or longtime journalist Kari Lake.

Another Difficult Week for the Lake Campaign

On By AZ ConservativeIn Arizona, Conservatism, Constitution, Faith & Freedom, Governor, Second AmendmentLeave a comment

Arizona may be the most second amendment state in America. Many open carry proudly and many more conceal carry or have weapons in the home. As a result, membership to the National Rifle Association has become a campaign issue and a litmus test for candidates support for the second amendment. The National Rifle Association is the largest guns rights advocacy group in the world and provides lifetime membership opportunities. Most republican candidates are and have been lifetime members of the NRA.

That is probably why it has become a campaign issue in the Arizona gubernatorial race that Kari Lake, the Trump endorsed candidate, seems to have not joined the NRA until her campaign started last year. This has lead many to believe that Kari Lake only became a member of the NRA because she was running for election.

Politicos pushed the other candidates Steve Gaynor, Matt Salmon and Karrin Taylor Robson to disclose their membership dates. Gaynor joined in 2018, Salmon joined in 2006 and Robson in 2009. Salmon used the opportunity to go after Lake saying Lake’s donations to Democrats including John Kerry and Barack Obama over a decade ago call into question her support of gun rights — a bedrock issue for the Republican party.

Membership to the NRA probably is not a deal breaker for republicans but this week’s revelations come on the heels of Kari Lake’s policy missteps, bad fundraising numbers and sinking polling results which could spell trouble for the candidate.

Big Changes in AZ Gov Race Poll: Trump Candidate Kari Lake Sinking

On By AZ ConservativeIn Arizona, GovernorLeave a comment

Arizona polling outfit OH Predictive released a poll last week on the Arizona Governor’s race and many were surprised.

gop primary az jan 22

Kari Lake the Trump endorsed candidate in the race is already losing support. More traditional republican candidates, businesswoman Karrin Taylor Robson and former lobbyist and congressman Matt Salmon are picking up steam. They’ve added 5-6 pts each over the last few months. With that being said the majority are still unsure and its anybody’s race. However, these are indications of how this race will turn out.

Money is going to be a major factor as well. Below are the most recent fundraising numbers. Unfortunate again for the Kari Lake campaign, they are also struggling in this area. Below shows that Kari Lake burned through most of her campaign cash already. Why that matters is because she is going to have a tough time defining herself. Steve Gaynor on the other hand waited until the last minute to donate $5 million to his efforts and could be the dark horse candidate in the race. Compare his $5,000,000 and Karrin Taylor Robson’s $3,000,000 to Matt Salmon’s $500,000 and Kari Lake’s $300,000. The big difference in campaign cash is going to have a major impact on who can stay alive in this competitive battle.

Many candidates are looking to distinguish themselves in the race while they simultaneously define their opponents. With Steve Gaynor’s large commitment we could see the mud start flying. On social media we have already seen the campaigns go after Lake for her previous support of Obama and Kerry, Salmon for his lobbying and Steve Gaynor and Karrin Taylor Robson for being outsiders with no political experience.

It’s still early though and a lot can happen but we’ll keep you posted.

Digging In: Kari Lake Spends 55k on 10k fundraiser at Trump’s Mar-a-lago Resort

On By AZ ConservativeIn Arizona, Governor1 Comment

Last week Arizona gubernatorial candidates filed their first campaign finance reports. These reports detail the campaign’s contributions and expenditures. Every cycle media and pundits will dig through these reports to identify things that give insiders an indication of how well campaigns will fair in the future.

Most money spent on campaigns is used for what they call “Direct Voter Contact”. That’s your canvassing, phone banking and advertising. Of course there are always costs to your initial fundraising but you should make money off of every event. That is why some of the details in Kari Lake’s campaign finance report are causing so many concerns among her supporters.

The financial disclosure revealed many things about the campaign. Kari Lake is spending heavily on expensive consultants from DC, $145,000 on campaign merchandise and 52,000 on an event at mar-a-lago. That event is the one conservatives are scratching their head at.

When looking at the campaign finance reports it looks like Kari Lake raised only $9k for the over $50,000 event. One might say, “well not all events are successful” but this event was at attended by President Trump at his resort leading people to believe that either they don’t know how to fundraise effectively even with the President’s backing or that there is just not as much support for Kari Lake as some thought

The Governor’s race has several months to go and there are several MAGA candidates running. It will be important to pay attention to who is able to sustain fundraising through the second quarter and who isn’t. That and air time are the key factors at this time in the election cycle.

Gov Candidate Invests Big

On By AZ ConservativeIn Arizona, GovernorLeave a comment

Steve Gaynor, a republican candidate for Arizona Governor put a large sum of money in to his campaign. 5 million dollars to be exact and with almost all of it still on hand Gaynor now has more money available than the other campaigns combined.

The Gaynor campaign released the below graphic yesterday and it’s been making its rounds through the Arizona Republican Party back channels. Things should be heating up between these candidates soon.

Kari Lake Team Blowing Through Her Campaign Cash #AZGOV

On By AZ ConservativeIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

The Arizona Republican Gubernatorial candidates filed their first fundraising paperwork last week and there’s been a lot of discussion about what they mean to the race.

Table Credit: Dillon Rosenblatt @dillonreedrose

The most shocking numbers were Kari Lake’s and not in a good way. While the Trump endorsed candidate did raise just over $1.4 million she already burned through $1 million of it and not on the things people would expect them to. The campaign team which Kari says she is running herself (see below) but also seems to include Arizona Republican Party official Tyler Bowyer and political new comer Adel Belgaied, who despite registering to vote in 2008 will be voting in a primary for the first time ever this year, spent almost all of their campaign cash on consultants. The other $150,000 was spent on merchandise, mostly shirts and hats, $50,000 on eating out and another $52,000 at Trump’s Mar A Lago resort. Conservatives don’t normally react well to mismanaged finances in campaigns and these facts are going to create some doubt about this team’s ability to sustain a campaign.

Steve Gaynor and Karrin Taylor Robson came in with big sums; Gaynor with $ 5 million and Karrin with $3.7 million and $3 million cash on hand.

Kimberly Yee, a strong candidate normally, recently dropped out of the race to run for reelection as Arizona State Treasurer.

Matt Salmon, who now has more cash on hand than Kari Lake, isn’t inspiring many but has spent the last thirty years as either a lobbyist, a candidate or an elected official and is still a formidable candidate for people to watch out for.

Kari Lake Already Falling Behind in #AZGOV Race

On By AZ ConservativeIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

Candidates running for Governor in Arizona released their campaign finance numbers this week and Trump favorite Kari Lake is already falling behind in not only dollars raised but number of donors.

Why this matters?

There are not a lot of metrics that help voters know which campaigns are weak and which are strong but the numbers of donors and amounts raised are important ones. Unfortunately for Kari Lake, she stumbled to garner a lot of either. Kari Lake is behind Karrin Taylor Robson and Democratic front runner Katie Hobbs in both categories.

Karrin Taylor Robson leads the race with $3.7 million raised and 16,000 donors. Katie Hobbs has raised $2.9 million and 20,000 donors. On the republican side Kimberly Yee, Steve Gaynor and Matt Salmon have yet to release their numbers but no one expects them to be any higher than those already reported. On the democrat side Marco Lopez and Aaron Lieberman both posted $1 million in dollars raised.

To be sure, the campaigns are just getting started but these developments bring in to question whether Kari Lake has what it takes.