BREAKING: KARI LAKE AT CPAC: 'This is our moment right now'

Kari Lake, newly nominated gubernatorial contender for the GOP in the state of Arizona, took the CPAC stage on Saturday afternoon. She spoke about how she came to leave Fox and become a candidate for political office, saying that "she was no longer willing to work for" Fox, and was "no longer willing to lie to the people of this country."

Lake said that she was recruited by the people of Arizona to run for office, and called the AZ GOP and said "how do I run for office? What do I do?" And she invited her friends from church, "church ladies," she said, to come over and form "the most rag tag team" to run her political campaign.

"We didn't play by the rules because frankly I didn't know what the rules were," Lake said. Advisors and experienced politicos gave her advice, and she said she ignored all of it.

"I did it my way and I listened to the good people of Arizona," she told the crowd to a round of applause.

"The lies, the nastiness," she said of media and opponents who have taken photos of her children, parked outside her home, and tried to personally intimidate her. When she spoke to President Trump about her concerns, she reported that she said "don't stop because that means you are directly over the target."

As she enters this second phase of the election, Lake said she's heard that it's going to get worse, "more painful," and says "bring it on." She welcomes the adversity "with ultimate gladness," she said.

Lake said that she believes God "has chosen me, and he's chosen you."

"I don't believe for one second God makes mistakes," she said. "He knows that we will be the ones to save this great republic."

As to the make-up of the Republican party, she said that "we've got to welcome the conservatives, but not just the conservatives, also the independents." She also said that the GOP and this movement must welcome in Democrats that are "walking away" from that party.

"I know they want is to think tit is a battle between left and right nut this is truly a battle between those who want to save America and those who want to destroy her. That's my question," she said, "are you in this fight with us?"

"We need each and every person to be in this foxhole with us. We all have to be wiling to take the same hits that I've taken, that President Trump has taken. So that means we've got top be willing to put our jobs on the line," Lake continued.

"We have to be willing to be attacks, and we've got to be willing to lose a friend or two," she said. "We have to be wiling to be kicked off Twitter."

"Don't you think that our founding fathers lost a lot?" Lake asked the crowd. "They lost their livelihoods. They lost their fields. They lost their homes."

"Some of them," she went on, "even gave their lives fighting for this country."

"For them, America was just an idea," she said, using the phrasing that President Biden routinely intones as to what America is today. But then she noted that, instead, "For us, America has been a reality, and it is up to us to ensure that America does not become a memory."

"This is our moment right now," she said, "to prove to our ancestors that their struggles and losses were not done in vain. It is our moment to prove right now how much this country means to us."

"And I'm willing to take that sacrifice," she said. "And I know that you in this room are wiling to take that sacrifice."

"We may have won this battle," Lake said, "and I won an epic battle in Arizona through the heart of the McCain machine." She joked that as she said that she felt that she had garlic around her neck.

"So my question is are you ready to fight a few battles or fight like hell to take this country back? I know that the man standing back there," she said, referring to Trump, "is willing to do it."

"I know I'm in this battle and willing to do it. Who is ready to rise up and go out there?" She asked.