Kari Lake to recruit for 2024 Arizona Senate bid.
Kari Lake Prepares for Senate Campaign
Kari Lake is gearing up to launch her Senate campaign this fall, setting the stage for an exciting three-way race. Incumbent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ) and Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) will be her formidable opponents.
Lake, a polarizing conservative figure who narrowly lost her bid for governor last year, is making preparations for her campaign. According to Axios, she is expected to begin interviewing and hiring consultants and staff, with an anticipated launch date in October.
A Standstill in the Race
For the past few months, the race has been at a standstill. Gallego, the progressive likely Democratic nominee, has been actively campaigning across the state. Sinema, who left the Democratic Party to become an independent, has not yet confirmed if she will run for a second term. Meanwhile, Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb, the only Republican in the race, announced his candidacy in April but is considered an underdog in a primary against Lake, who has yet to make her intentions official.
“Everyone is kind of frozen waiting to see what Kari decides. She absolutely will not be beaten in a Republican primary, the only person who could beat her in a primary is Donald Trump,” said a senior adviser to Lake earlier this summer, who requested anonymity to speak candidly in an interview with the Washington Examiner.
Lake was one of the most vocal Republican candidates last year, supporting former President Donald Trump’s claims of winning the 2020 election. Despite her narrow loss in the gubernatorial race against Democrat Katie Hobbs, Lake continues to challenge the outcome and has never conceded defeat.
In recent months, Lake has been on a nationwide book tour promoting her memoir, “Unafraid: Just Getting Started,” which was released on June 27. She has also been meeting with donors and engaging with the National Republican Senate Committee during her visits to Washington, D.C. Additionally, Lake has been actively supporting other GOP candidates on the campaign trail, including Ohio Republican Senate candidate Bernie Moreno.
While many consider Lake the favorite for the Republican nomination if she decides to run, her previous loss raises some uncertainty about her ability to win a general election.
“If Kari Lake is the Republican nominee for Senate, it’s an automatic loss for Republicans in our state,” said a GOP strategist who requested anonymity. “It’s just very difficult to sit back and watch our party make the same mistakes over and over. We will deserve to lose if she’s our candidate.”
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has expressed hesitation about investing resources in the Arizona Senate race. He emphasized that Republicans will likely wait to see the primary outcome before deciding to engage. The National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) recognizes the potential challenge of defeating Lake in a primary and prefers not to get involved so late in the cycle.
New polling indicates that Gallego is leading in a hypothetical matchup against Lake and Sinema. The Arizona Public Opinion Pulse report from Noble Predictive Insights shows Gallego with 34% support, compared to 26% for Lake and 25% for Sinema, who would be running as an independent. An Emerson poll suggests that Sinema would attract more votes from Republican voters than Democrats.
Gallego recently met with President Biden to discuss his Extreme Heat Emergency Act, while Sinema stood alongside Biden during the designation of the Grand Canyon as a national monument.
Gallego raised $3.1 million from April 1 through June 30, while Sinema, who has not confirmed her re-election bid, raised $1.7 million. Sinema currently has nearly $10.8 million in her bank account, almost three times more than Gallego.
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