Polls show her locked in a tight race with Democratic secretary of state Katie Hobbs, in an expensive and closely watched contest that could take days to call. In August, Lake’s mastery of political stagecraft, and her willing embrace of Donald Trump’s election lies, carried her to a primary victory over an opponent who may have been better funded but was not better known. She is cast at all times in a deep glow, as if she were welcoming you to CPAC just after you have died. On TV hits, she looks more like the host than the host, and she is cast at all times in a deep glow, as if she were welcoming you to CPAC just after you have died. Halperin ensures that her audio and her lighting are always perfect. He is easy to spot-a tall, bearded man with a green equipment bag strapped to his chest like a BabyBjörn. When she speaks at packed rallies or takes pre-selected questions from the audience at “Ask Me Anything” town halls, her husband, Jeff Halperin, a former local TV news videographer, walks around the perimeter, focusing his camera on Lake, on her supporters, and sometimes on members of the media. “I just fell in love with Arizona,” she says over soaring orchestral music. Her five-minute campaign biography, a slickly produced hype video that airs on big screens at the start of every event, features a montage of parents gathering their kids around television sets to watch Lake read the news on Fox 10 Phoenix.

For decades, the election-denying, vaccine-rejecting Republican nominee for governor of Arizona was one of the state’s most popular local news anchors, a trusted face paid to keep residents charmed, informed, and always pining for more. Kari Lake is good at TV, and she never lets you forget it. Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.

Phoenix news channel