In the sole Senate debate of 2024, Kari Lake kept her responses within a degree of the border while Ruben Gallego tracked back to his legislative record. 

The two candidates took the stage Wednesday in a debate hosted by the Arizona Clean Elections Commission. In just under an hour, Lake and Gallego spent the most time on immigration and border policy, but still sparred over abortion, the economy, energy, water and Lake’s claim she won the 2022 gubernatorial election.

For her part, Lake spoke over Gallego and the moderators with little interjection from her opponent and lodged what Gallego described as “personal attacks,” in bringing up his divorce and alleged instances of harassment at his former workplaces. 

Caroline Wren, senior advisor to Lake, called the debate a “decisive victory.” 

While in remarks to the press post-debate, Gallego said, “I think we all saw who Kari Lake is … which is someone who will lie, has continued lying and is still lying to this day.”

Gallego, kicking off opening statements, again beckoned back to his upbringing in a low-income household, his military service and eventual ascent into higher education and political office in his pitch to Arizonans. 

Lake took the time to hit on the familiar messaging on the border crisis painting Arizona as unsafe and unaffordable given illegal immigration and made a call to ditch “career politicians.”

Both candidates had parallel lines about the other. 

“We’re going to see and talk to somebody who has really failed the base test of honesty, lied to Arizonans about the 2022 election. She has said that she still is the rightful governor of Arizona. She’s lied about fellow Republicans to the point where they have to go get bodyguards because of all the threats that she created,” Gallego said.  

Lake said, “We’re going to be hearing tonight from somebody who’s undergone an extreme makeover, to quote an old TV show, somebody who has voted with the most radical Democrats in Washington, D.C. to tear open our borders.”

Moderators Steve Goldstein and Nohelani Graf started with the border wall, sending a question to Gallego on his stance on the necessity for a physical barrier. 

Gallego said the border wall was “important to a security package” but needed to be coupled with spending in personnel and technology and highlighted his support of the failed bipartisan border bill.

In her response, Lake called back to Gallego’s past comments that the border wall was “stupid and dumb” and reaffirmed her commitment to seeing through the completion of Trump’s wall if she were elected to the Senate. 

Separate from border security, the candidates talked about immigration policy, namely, the allocation of resources to border communities.

Lake claimed Gallego supported funneling money into non-governmental agencies, which she claimed had been draining resources from the community and embedding immigrants deeper into the United States. 

Gallego said Lake had failed to visit or speak with these communities. 

“She would leave these towns abandoned, why have you not visited them and talked to them. You’ve been to Mar-A-Lago more than you’ve been to the border,” Gallego said. 

Gallego also pushed a question for Lake on her support of allowing dreamers, or those protected from deportation under Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, though Lake did not directly answer the question. 

In moving to abortion, Gallego committed to codifying the protections of Roe v. Wade in the constitution and brought up Lake’s past comments of calling the 1864 abortion ban a “great law,” saying she was “thrilled” with the fall of Roe v. Wade. 

Lake kept to the point that abortion should be left to the states and said she would not support a national abortion ban nor would she allow any federal tax dollars to fund abortions. She further called for the importance of “UVF.” She meant IVF. 

Lake then got to personal attacks on Gallego, claiming he had complaints for harassing and disparaging women in the Legislature and in city hall, as well as bringing up the fact he separated from Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego when she was pregnant.

Gallego said, “A lot of personal hits were just thrown out there. I’m not going to go through it point by point.” 

Lake interjected, “I’d be interested in doing that.”

On the economy, Lake continued to bring any economic strain back to the border, while Gallego touched on his work lowering prescription drug prices and called for a stop to the Albertsons Kroger grocery merger. 

In discussing energy and water, Lake said the country should “drill baby drill” and “bring in new sources of water to the West,” while Gallego made the case for nuclear energy and water reclamation and future negotiations  

He then said Lake was in denial about climate change as well as the 2022 election. 

“Did you win or lose that election?” Gallego asked. 

Lake declined to say. Moderators then asked about reforms on election Lake would consider taking up, to which she made a call for paper ballots counted all on Election Day. 

Gallego brought up the ongoing election contests and defamation suit by Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer and said Lake had lied. 

 “I’ve never lied to the people of Arizona,” Lake said. 

Following the debate, Gallego answered four questions from the press. He declined to say if he still considered himself a progressive and continued to hit on the fact that Lake resorted to personal attacks and had not answered the question on whether she had one or lost the 2022 gubernatorial race .

Lake did not speak to reporters after the debate she sent out proxies, her senior advisor Caroline Wren, Senator John Barrasso, Mercedes Schlapp of Conservative Political Action Conference and Turning Point USA’s Charlie Kirk 

Wren said Lake would be able to speak for herself at a press conference planned for today in Scottsdale.