The annual Maricopa County Republican Committee meeting was held on Saturday and the event, a must on the campaign trail for major county, statewide and federal candidates, was well attended by candidates and party activists as well. Nearly 2,000 attendees packed the Dream City Church to conduct party business while outside, candidates asked for the support of the party faithful.
As explained by party officials, for reasons of limited time, candidate speeches to the gathered attendees were not allowed, so campaigning was conducted outside the main hall, but as often seems to happen at Party meetings, there was early controversy when a Kari Lake video was played to the main hall. Lake skipped the meeting to campaign in Iowa for the caucuses instead of in Arizona for the Senate seat, but her GOP opponent for the U.S. Senate, Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb and his wife were both campaigning at the County GOP event. Lamb was not allowed to address the gathering, and the double standard angered the activists in the room, who loudly called for Lamb to be allowed to speak.
“With a tight schedule it made sense to not let candidates make lots of speeches, but leave it to the County Party leadership to try to sneak a Kari Lake thing in there to make up for the fact that she wasn’t even there,” said one unhappy attendee. “At least they caved to the room and got Lamb back to speak.”
Indeed, after a loud and insistent protest from the attendees, the meeting invited Lamb to come back that afternoon to address the event. Lamb came back and did so, giving a well-received speech.
“Honestly, I was kind of surprised that the room reacted the way it did,” said another activist who was at the event. She added, “I guess I figured the room would be full of Kari Lake supporters but they really wanted Mark Lamb on that stage and seemed to love him, so I guess that’s good news for him.”