Arizona Senate candidate Kari Lake calls for GOP chairman to resign following audio leak

(NBC, KYMA/KECY) - Arizona Senate candidate Kari Lake is calling for the state's GOP chair Jeff DeWit to resign after audio surfaced purportedly of him telling her not run in this year's U.S. Senate race.

The audio was posted by Arizona conservative talk show host Garret Lewis, and is purportedly from an early 2023 exchange between Jeff DeWit and Lake in which the chairman can be heard offering up apparent job opportunities in exchange for Lake stepping aside from politics.

DeWit even asks lake to provide him a salary number and also tells her not to tell anyone about the conversation.

DeWit has not returned NBC News' request for comment, but Lake tells NBC News he should resign.

"We can't have somebody who's corrupt and compromised running the Republican party. I want corruption rooted out of our government. I don't care if it's on the Democrat side or the Republican side. We are going to root our corruption. That's why the people love this man that's about to take the stage. Because he can't be corrupted, he can't blackmail, he can't be bribed and he's going to root out the corruption in the swamp and give the government back to we, the people."

Kari Lake, Arizona Republican Senate Candidate

When asked if she had anyone in mind take on the chairman role, Lake said, "I haven't given it much thought."