Yahoo Movies Cheney urges Arizonans not to vote for GOP candidates Lake for governor and Finchem for secretary of state
Rep. Liz Cheney cautioned voters in Arizona Wednesday against voting for Arizona Republican candidates for governor and secretary of state, arguing that they pose a risk to democracy.
Cheney, R-Wyo., said Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake and secretary of state candidate Mark Finchem have denied the 2020 election results.
"They both said that they will only honor the results of an election if they agree with it," Cheney, said.
"We cannot give people power who have told us that they will not honor elections. Elections are the foundation of our republic and peaceful transfers of power are the foundation of our republic," she continued.
Lake ran a primary campaign focused on supporting former President Donald Trump's false claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen and has called President Joe Biden an illegitimate president.
Finchem, also backing Trump's election falsehoods, has said that if he had been secretary of state when Biden won Arizona, he would not have certified the 2020 election results.
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Cheney, who lost the Wyoming Republican primary to Trump-backed Harriet Hageman, has been a vocal critic of Trump and has vowed to fight against candidates who support his false claims of the 2020 elections.
Her comments come at a time when over 300 candidates across the country running for public offices have either questioned the legitimacy of the 2020 election or denied it without providing evidence.
They are running for Congress, governor, attorney general, and secretary of state, and many are running in key battleground states such as Arizona that helped Biden win the presidency.
Cheney said she has never voted for Democrats but would vote if she were in Arizona.
"I don't know that I have ever voted for a Democrat," she said. "But if I lived in Arizona now, I absolutely would, for governor and for secretary of state. I think we cannot be in a position where we elect people who will not fundamentally uphold the sanctity of elections."
An Arizona/Suffolk Poll released in September suggests that Lake is in a tight race with Democratic Challenger Katie Hobbs, with Hobbs having a razor-thin lead over Lake.
According to the poll, 46% of respondents said they would certainly or probably vote for Hobbs versus 45% for Lake. That’s within the poll’s margin of error.
There have not been widely reported polls for the secretary of state race.
Contributing: Arizona Republic
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Liz Cheney warns AZ voters against backing Kari Lake and Mark Finchem
