Former Vice President Mike Pence waded into a contentious Republican primary battle on Monday, setting up a high-profile showdown with former President Donald Trump, who is backing a different candidate for Arizona governor.
Pence announced his endorsement of Karrin Taylor Robson, a businesswoman and former member of the Arizona Board of Regents, on Monday despite Trump’s support for Kari Lake, a former television journalist who has run a hard-right race largely focused on election conspiracy theories. His scheduled appearance at a rally with Robson on Friday will mark the second time Pence and Trump backed different candidates, with Arizona setting the stage for a rematch after Pence’s preferred candidate triumphed the first time they went toe-to-toe.
I am honored to announce the endorsement of former Vice President @Mike_Pence.
He has been a warrior for the sanctity of Life; limited government; law & order; opportunity for all; & the knowledge that our freedoms are granted by God.
I’m proud to have him on my team. #AZgov pic.twitter.com/7u680Z7CDU
— Karrin Taylor Robson for Arizona (@Karrin4Arizona) July 18, 2022
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Trump was scheduled to travel to Arizona on Lake’s behalf, but he postponed a planned rally due to the death of Ivana Trump, his first wife. He is still expected to appear with Lake, along with other Arizona Republicans, ahead of the Aug. 2 primary elections.
The former vice president’s decision to intervene in the gubernatorial primary will only add to the perception that the race is shaping up to be a face-off between the establishment and Trump-aligned wings of the Republican Party. Robson has secured endorsements from prominent GOP figures who have been critical of Trump, such as incumbent Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey, Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.
But Lake boasts support from a wide array of pro-Trump figures, including ex-national security adviser Michael Flynn, MyPillow CEO and election conspiracy theorist Mike Lindell, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), and ex-Trump adviser Peter Navarro, who is under federal indictment for refusing to cooperate with the House Jan. 6 select committee’s investigation.
Lake, previously seen as the race’s front-runner before establishment Republicans coalesced around a single candidate in an attempt to block her from securing the GOP nomination, has drawn unlikely support from the Arizona Democratic Party, which sees the right-wing ex-broadcaster as more likely than Robson to lose the general election to Katie Hobbs, Arizona’s secretary of state and the expected Democratic nominee.
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The primary election will mark the second time Trump and Pence have been on opposite sides of an intraparty contest. Pence previously broke with Trump by endorsing Gov. Brian Kemp (R-GA) against his Trump-backed primary opponent, former Sen. David Perdue, who ran a campaign almost entirely centered on Kemp’s refusal to overturn Georgia’s election results in the 2020 presidential election. Kemp drew the former president’s ire for refusing to go along with attempts to invalidate President Joe Biden’s election victory in the state, but the governor trounced Perdue by nearly 52 points in the May 24 primary.
Lake’s early polling lead over Robson has steadily whittled away, with recent surveys indicating that the primary race is close to a dead heat. While polls have also shown Hobbs leading both Lake and Robson in general election matchups, her lead over Robson is considerably narrower than her margin with Lake.
