MESA, Arizona — Kari Lake and congressional candidate Kelly Cooper spoke at a Turning Point USA rally with JD Vance and Turning Point USA Founder Charlie Kirk at Generation Church in east Mesa on Wednesday. The theme throughout the evening was ballot chasing—knocking on doors and urging large numbers of low-propensity voters to cast ballots.
Senior Pastor Ryan Visconti said the church was so full there was an overflow room, estimating almost 2,000 in attendance.
Visconti said he received pushback about hosting the political event, with others questioning his judgment. He responded to the critics and said it was too imperative to stand up for what’s right.
“I think we have a choice,” Visconti said. “We can continue on the path that we have been on, or as a nation, we can return to as the Lord says, ‘Choose this day whom you will serve,’ and that’s the choice we have. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. … We need God front and center in everything that we do. … And if you think about all the lies that we’re constantly being told, and the censorship, the manipulation, and the deception that exists, and you think, I’m tired of being lied to, you’re probably feeling something that I felt, and I think most of us have felt. And the truth is, you need Jesus, who is the truth.”
Kelly Cooper, a self-made restaurant owner who is running for House in Congressional District 3 against incumbent Democrat Greg Stanton, spoke about growing up raised by a single mother without a father figure, but joined the Marines and now owns three restaurants in the Valley; two Melting Pots and BKD’s Backyard Joint.
Cooper told a story about his grandma. He said, “My granny told us growing up that politicians are like diapers. They all smell pretty nice when they first get them. You open up the package, but, but over time, they fill up with crap, and you got to change them, right?”
He expressed his frustration at inflation under the Biden administration. “I don’t know about the rest of you, but my electric bill last month was over $400, my grocery bill for my family of four is over $400 a week,” Cooper said. “And when I go to fill up my truck to try to go buy those groceries, or work to pay for all of these things that I have to have to survive, it costs more than $100. And now they’re spending all this time trying to tell you that they’re fixing the problem that they created. Well, the way I grew up, you couldn’t glue the vase back together and say, ‘Hey, fix the vase.’ My mom would say, ‘You broke the vase.’”
Cooper ended his talk, “A revisiting of our faith in the Lord is what’s required here.”
Lake spoke next and told a story about how her mother almost died as an infant in childbirth. She was born very premature in 1933, before they had neonatal intensive care units at hospitals, so the doctor sent her home in a shoebox, informing Lake’s grandma that she was going to pass away at home. Lake’s grandma refused to give up, feeding her with an eye dropper, and “through sheer love, survived.”
Lake’s mom went on to have nine children, with Lake the youngest. “Thank you, Mom, for being pro-life because I was the ninth one, and we didn’t have the money and we didn’t have the resources, but she just loved the fact that she could hold a baby in her arms and dream about what her child could accomplish,” she said.
Lake revealed new economic data showing that “[t]he average price of a home in Arizona has gone up 35 percent from $321,000 to $433,000. It’s getting harder to live that American dream.” She said the average mortgage payment has increased from $1,300 to $2,700. When Lake moved to Arizona 30 years ago, she bought a house for $88,000 with a $675 monthly mortgage.
“The only way we get this back is to elect President Donald J. Trump. And now I’m not going to promise that we can deliver $88,000 median price homes, but I am going to promise that we’re going to turn this around,” Lake said.
She pivoted to her opponent in the Senate race, Representative Ruben Gallego (D-AZ-03), pointing out, “He has voted for every radical idea that Kamala Harris and Joe Biden presented 100 percent of the time.”
Lake said Gallego is now hitting her hard with negative ads. “It’s really weird to turn the TV on and see an attack ad, and you’re in it. You remember when I used to work in the news, I used to turn to my co-anchor and say, ‘Who the hell would get into politics for this? This is insane, and here I am, because I don’t care what they say about me.”
She noted that the ads are directed at voters 65 and over since “they really work with people who are 65 and older.” She explained, “They’re more likely to turn the TV on, listen to what’s coming out of the fake news, and believe it.”
Lake cited the Bible for inspiration.
“I just want to remind you, sometimes it feels like God has been diminished because he’s been pushed out of culture,” she said. “He’s been pushed out of some families. He’s been pushed out of a lot of lives. But that same God who chose Moses, that same God who parted the Red Sea, is the same God that we have with us today, just as He was with Moses, and just as He was with David when he took down Goliath, and just as if, as he was with those 56 incredible, brave men who signed those founding documents that started this whole ball roll on America, he Is with each and every one of us today. Right? Us for sure. So guys, we vote God on our side, and we look into our children’s faces, and that’s our motivation to get out.”
Next, TPUSA played a video explaining its ballot-chasing operation. The organization is targeting three battleground states: Arizona, Georgia, and Wisconsin. The video noted that “72 percent of outcomes show Republicans must win these states.” TPUSA is paying for hotels for patriots who do not live in those states to visit and knock on the doors of low-propensity voters.
Brett Galaszewski, TPUSA’s enterprise director of the Legacy Field Program, provided more specifics on the ballot-chasing operation. He encouraged attendees to sign up for Super Chase events and knock on doors to reach voters. Additionally, he said they could sign up to be assigned 100 voters to reach out to.
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Rachel Alexander is a reporter at The Arizona Sun Times and The Star News Network. Follow Rachel on Twitter / X. Email tips to [email protected].
