Kari Lake downplays 1864 abortion law, says Arizonans can travel '3 hours' for procedure

Senate candidate Kari Lake indistinctly linked illegal immigration to the climbing cost of housing in Arizona at a Tuesday morning campaign event that veered into higher-profile policy issues, including Lake’s shifting rhetoric on abortion.

Lake, the Republican Senate primary front-runner, seemed to downplay Arizona's recently upheld strict 1864 abortion ban by telling people "you can go three hours that way, three hours that way, and you're going to be able to have an abortion."

Lake was scheduled to discuss housing affordability alongside Jason Mitchell, a real estate broker.

In recent years, the already-rising cost of housing in Arizona has sharply increased. In 2022, the state had the 18th highest "housing wage" needed to rent a two-bedroom apartment. In 2023, it jumped to number 12, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition’s latest “Out of Reach” report.

Lake gestured broadly to the issue of illegal immigration, the linchpin of her campaign, to explain that trend.

“We don't have enough housing for the people who are here. Now we've got 9 to 12 million. That adds additional stress to the system,” Lake said to dozens of people at Mitchell’s office in Scottsdale, referring to the estimated number of undocumented immigrants in the U.S.

Immigration is among the factors that can influence the price of housing in U.S. cities. Economists disagree about why housing is so expensive, but many view shortages in the housing supply or corporate ownership of the housing stock as the greatest contributing factors.

In an interview before the event, Mitchell said he doesn’t believe that illegal immigration is driving up the cost of buying a home. He said it’s plausible that immigrants are driving up the cost of renting because they, like other occupants, eat into the rental supply.

“The less supply of something there is, the more expensive it costs. That’s just basic economics,” Mitchell said.

Onstage, Lake and Mitchell bemoaned crime committed by undocumented migrants in Scottsdale, one of the Phoenix area’s wealthier cities. Police have told local media that burglaries in Scottsdale have fallen overall in recent years, though this year saw a highly publicized pattern of thefts that police say were committed by South American immigrants.

“The only way, frankly, to save our homeland is to send these people back to their homeland,” Lake said.

Mitchell, Lake’s interlocutor, leads a firm that promotes itself online as a luxury real estate company selling homes to clients like the retired former Phoenix Suns player Eddie Johnson. In an interview, Mitchell said the firm’s average purchase price is around $470,000, not much higher than the statewide median.

Mitchell has argued that simply building more housing won’t solve the problem. Instead he has advocated using taxes to dissuade wealthy investors from buying up large numbers of homes, which politicians on both the left and right have said takes units out of the housing supply and drives up prices for ordinary people.

Lake suggested her support for that view on Tuesday.

“I want to find ways to make sure that people, first-time homeowners, and families can get into homes, and not be outbid or even underbid by hedge funds and such,” she said.

Later, Mitchell asked Lake to explain her “shift on abortion.” While running for governor during the last election cycle, Lake called the near-total ban on abortion, enacted while Arizona was still a territory, a "great law". After the Arizona Supreme Court upheld that law in a decision last week, Lake said the 1864 law she once praised was "out of step with Arizonans."

Lake responded that she has “never shifted” in her opposition to a federal abortion ban and downplayed the impact of the 1864 law. She said people wanting an abortion could seek one in another state and referenced Democratic Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes’ announcement that she will not prosecute any abortion bans.

“Everyone’s fighting about a law that’s not even going to be enforced here in Arizona,” Lake said.

“Even if we have a restrictive law here,” Lake continued, “you can go three hours that way, three hours that way, and you're going to be able to have an abortion.”

Mayes’ decision could be challenged by one of the state's county attorneys.

A memo circulated Monday by a GOP legislative staffer revealed that Arizona Republicans are considering putting forward competing proposals to weaken support for a widely anticipated ballot measure that would enshrine abortion rights into Arizona’s Constitution.

“I think our lawmakers need to do something quickly, and that's putting another initiative on the ballot to give people options,” Lake said on Tuesday.

Political observers believe the issue of abortion could be a major liability for Lake and other Arizona Republicans’ campaigns this election year. On top of sweeping consequences for prenatal health care in Arizona, the abortion restrictions are likely to boost Democratic turnout in statewide elections like Lake’s that are widely expected to be razor-thin.

Lake’s likely Democratic opponent in the November general election is Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz. She faces a GOP primary challenger in Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb.

In recent remarks, Gallego has taken direct aim at Lake over her past support for the 1864 law.

"She wanted this to happen," Gallego said of Lake. "They all did. Do not let them lie to you."

Republic reporter Catherine Reagor contributed to this story.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Kari Lake downplays AZ abortion law, links immigration and housing