Kari Lake, Rep. Ruben Gallego trade barbs on social media, at Phoenix airport

Kari Lake didn’t wait to officially enter the U.S. Senate race to begin debating U.S. Rep. Ruben Gallego. The two clashed on social media while flying back to Arizona, with the conversation spilling into public view at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.

Lake, who is scheduled to announce her bid for the Republican nomination next week, asked Gallego, D-Ariz., on social media if “you still believe that a border wall is racist? I’m asking on behalf of 7 million Arizonans who are tired of you facilitating an invasion and want their neighborhoods to be safe again.”

Gallego, who already has announced his Senate candidacy, responded with a tart tweet of his own: "Hey @KariLake we’re on the same plane! Just come back from first class to coach and we can chat. Happy to walk you through all my legislative work to deliver key resources to AZ’s border communities.”

Their clash on Thursday continued in a videotaped encounter with Gallego at the airport. The video was posted by the Daily Caller on the website Rumble.

At one point, Gallego said, “I look forward to working together if we can. … I think it’s great that we can have a civil conversation today.”

“Well, we’re going to have conversations,” Lake told Gallego. “Civil absolutely. But you know what’s not civil? People dying on the streets.”

The dialogue fell off from there, with Lake saying Gallego’s Phoenix-based district has the fastest-growing homeless population in the country and Gallego repeatedly telling her it was in “our state.”

Close to running: Kari Lake's Senate campaign takes a first step toward her official run

A man passing by told Lake she got “railroaded,” presumably referring to her narrow gubernatorial loss last year. Lake has maintained without evidence that the election was marred with fraud and administrative flaws.

Lake responded with her characteristically caustic rhetoric.

“We did, and this guy wants to destroy our country. He really does,” she said pointing at Gallego.

As their conversation veered into border security, Lake insisted, “We have to finish the wall.”

Gallego responded that the problem was more complex than that, which she denied.

When Lake said then-President Donald Trump “was on the verge of finishing the border wall,” Gallego reminded her that Trump had promised Americans that Mexico was going to pay for it, something that didn’t happen.

As they both talked over each other, Lake said, “May I finish? Or do you just like to interrupt?”

Gallego sought to end their discussion by saying, “This is something that you and I can work together on.”

Lake rejected that.

As the tape abruptly ended, she said, “No, I’m not working together with you. I’m going to beat you. I’m going to beat you, and we’re going to save Arizona.”

On Friday, Hannah Goss, a spokeswoman for Gallego’s campaign, sought to put the incident behind them.

“Arizonans don’t care about Kari Lake’s airport ambush,” she said. “They want to know why she supports dangerous abortion bans that would risk the lives of countless women.”

More funding: Rep. Ruben Gallego's Senate campaign raised $3 million this summer

Reach the reporter at ronald.hansen@arizonarepublic.com.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Lake, Gallego trade barbs on social media, at Phoenix airport