Trump: Arizona’s Kari Lake is ‘an absolute star’

Updated: Nov 8, 2022 / 07:18 PM CST

FILE – Arizona Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake arrives to a rally with former President Donald Trump on Oct. 9, 2022, in Mesa, Ariz. The Republicans running for Arizona’s three top statewide offices have said they would not have signed off on the presidential results if they had held office in 2020 and have signaled that they want to overhaul the battleground state’s elections.(AP Photo/Matt York, File)

(NewsNation) — Former President Donald Trump said he would be OK with GOP Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake becoming the new face of MAGA.

“I hope so,” Trump said in an exclusive interview Tuesday with NewsNation. “She’s fantastic.”

MAGA — an abbreviation for Trump’s 2016 campaign slogan “Make America Great Again” — has also been characterized as “Trumpism.”

Trump lauded Lake as being “fantastic” and a “star.”

“She is absolutely a future star of the party and the country,” Trump said

Trump visited Mesa, Arizona, last month to promote Lake and her fellow Arizona Republicans.

Not everyone is on board with the former Phoenix local news anchor rising the ranks through the GOP.

Some Arizona Republicans even campaigned for Lake’s Democratic opponent Katie Hobbs.

While Lake has campaigned on border security, gun rights and opposing COVID mandates, she also has been vocal about election integrity — supporting Trump’s false claims that he won the 2020 presidential election.

Hobbs has refuted those claims, campaigning for reproductive rights and advocating public schools over charter schools.

The Democratic candidate also has pledged to offer more support when it comes to the border.