OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Arizona Republican Senate candidate Kari Lake has a history of having opponents refuse to debate her.
When she campaigned for governor of the state, her opponent, Gov. Katie Hobbs, refused to debate her and it worked to her advantage as the voters rewarded her with the governorship of the state.
And now the Republican’s opponent of the Senate, Democrat Ruben Gallego, has backed out of a debate he promised to have with her.
The Republican arrived for the debate and was met with an empty chair, but rather than canceling the discussion the network decided to air it anyway and the empty chair sat there for the entire hour.
“Ms. Lake accepted the invitation. Mr. Gallego declined,” the anchor said as the Republican candidate had the stage to herself for an hour against an empty chair in what could prove to be a crippling blow to the Democrat’s campaign.
“Ruben Gallego’s ducking the first debate is just another move from a politician too scared to defend his disastrous record. Arizonans deserve transparency, not excuses, and if he can’t face the voters now, how can they trust him to fight for them in Washington? I’ll never back down from a fight, and I’m ready to show Arizonans what real leadership looks like,” the Republican said after her one-sided debate.
Ruben Gallego didn’t show up to our first scheduled debate today.
Empty Chair — Empty Promises!
Do you think @RubenGallego will show up to the second debate on October 9th? pic.twitter.com/3l1bnMnxu6
— Kari Lake (@KariLake) October 4, 2024
But some have suggested that the Democrat did not want to answer questions about his divorce from his wife, who, it has been discovered, was pregnant when he left her, Trending Politics reported.
It happened after it was discovered that the Democrat candidate was dating Sydney Barron, who was an employee of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.
The divorce documents have been sealed but The Washington Free Beacon has requested that the documents be unsealed because it is in the public’s interest to see “the court’s findings regarding the reasons for granting the request to dissolve the public act of the appellants’ marriage.”
An attorney for The Free Beacon told the court, “At stake here is the right of the press to inform the public and voters’ rights to be informed about a candidate before the election, with time to digest and process the information.”
Gallego is being called out over his record regarding law enforcement practices and public safety.
Gallego’s push to reform police practices and restrict military-grade equipment for law enforcement has become a focal point in his Senate campaign. His public appearances and outspoken social media posts further highlight these issues, the Arizona Star reported.
Since his election to the Arizona House of Representatives in 2010 and his subsequent service in the U.S. House of Representatives for Arizona’s 3rd Congressional District starting in January 2014, Gallego has established a significant record on public safety and law enforcement.
Arizona voters have identified public safety as a key priority for the 2024 elections. The Arizona Voters’ Agenda survey reveals that, although immigration, border security, and water supplies are major concerns, public safety remains a vital issue, especially regarding the border crisis and community security, the outlet reported.
“Through his decade-long career in Congress, Ruben Gallego has proven that he isn’t just soft on crime, but he’s downright anti-police,” a spokesperson for Lake told the news outlet, adding that if Gallego were elected, “he would instantly become one of the most progressive, anti-police Senators in Washington, DC.”
The spokesperson added that his disdain for “law enforcement, sympathy for criminals, and support of anti-police legislation would jeopardize the operational capabilities of our law enforcement agencies and put our communities at serious risk.”
In June 2020, Gallego said police “don’t know how to use” certain weapons responsibly and in a “safe manner” because they’ve “never served in the military.” He went on to claim that police didn’t know how to use the “weapons in a safe manner” and that they were unnecessary to their law enforcement duties. He went on to support legislation that would cut supplying underfunded departments with surplus weapons and equipment that they used to protect their communities.
Doug Wyllie, a police matters expert, told the Star that armored vehicles and other so-called “militarized” equipment are crucial for law enforcement, especially in high-risk scenarios such as responding to violent crimes, armed robberies, active-shooter incidents, barricaded suspects, and hostage situations.
