{"id":2176599,"date":"2024-02-14T19:00:01","date_gmt":"2024-02-15T00:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/national-republicans-brush-off-prior-concerns-over-kari-lake-flaws-with-2024-endorsement\/"},"modified":"2024-02-14T19:04:03","modified_gmt":"2024-02-15T00:04:03","slug":"national-republicans-brush-off-prior-concerns-over-kari-lake-flaws-with-2024-endorsement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/national-republicans-brush-off-prior-concerns-over-kari-lake-flaws-with-2024-endorsement\/","title":{"rendered":"National Republicans ignore previous concerns about Kari Lake&#8217;s flaws, endorse her for 2024"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fnational-republicans-brush-off-prior-concerns-over-kari-lake-flaws-with-2024-endorsement%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2176599&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><h2>In 2022, Kari Lake&#8217;s\u2064 Campaign Was Kept at Arm&#8217;s\u2064 Length by National Republicans<\/h2>\n<p>In 2022, Kari Lake ran for governor in Arizona as a hard-charging conservative outsider who was quick to turn on\u200b the\u200c GOP establishment \u2014 and at the time,\u2063 her campaign was one national Republicans kept\u200c at arm\u2019s length, \u2062worried \u2064about her electability in the battleground state.<\/p>\n<p>That \u2063has\u2064 changed two years later, as the Senate Republicans\u2019 campaign arm endorsed\u200c Lake\u2019s candidacy on Tuesday, a major boost that comes\u200b with legitimacy \u200cand \u200bpotentially lots of cash and\u2064 resources.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<h3>\u201cKari Lake\u2063 is one of the most talented candidates\u200b in\u2064 the country,\u201d<\/h3>\n<p>said \u200dSen. Steve \u2063Daines (R-MT), the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee. <strong>\u201cKari is building out an effective campaign operation that has what it takes\u200b to flip Arizona\u2019s Senate seat in November.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>For over a year, Lake has been silently courting the Senate GOP establishment in Washington, making her way \u200dto the Capitol to meet with lawmakers and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/report-bidens-education-department-has-closer-ties-to-crt-group-than-they-admit\/\" title=\"REPORT: Biden\u2019s Education Department Has Closer Ties To CRT Group Than They Admit\">high-ranking officials<\/a>.\u2063 Lake and\u200c Daines began communicating regularly after he took \u200dthe helm at the NRSC in November \u20632022,\u200b and \u200bthe two have developed a\u2064 good rapport, \u2064according to a source familiar with\u2062 the matter.<\/p>\n<p>As internal polling showed Lake would likely win in the primary, in which she is competing against\u200c Pinal County Sheriff Mark \u200cLamb, more Senate\u2063 Republicans began\u200d to \u200cembrace the former \u200b<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/arizonas-democratic-secretary-of-state-running-for-governor\/\" title=\"Arizona\u2019s Democratic Secretary Of State Running For Governor\">local news anchor<\/a>. In mid-October 2023, Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY), the \u2062Senate GOP Conference chairman, \u200dbecame the highest-ranking Republican to endorse Lake, a sign \u200bthat the party\u2019s leaders were beginning to\u200b warm to her candidacy.<\/p>\n<p>A turning point came\u200d last\u200d weekend when \u200dLake attended\u200b the NRSC\u2019s\u2062 winter meeting at The Breakers resort in Palm Beach, Florida, where she got face time \u200cwith \u2064GOP senators and some of\u200b the\u200c party\u2019s largest donors \u2014 and \u200dthey were impressed. NRSC officials also have been encouraged by recent polling that\u200b has shown Arizona as\u2062 a toss-up race whether Lake faces Democratic \u200dopponent Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) one-on-one or a three-way contest with Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ),\u2064 who \u2062has not\u200d yet\u200b decided \u200cif she will be running \u2062for reelection as an Independent.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cI am \u200dhonored \u200cto\u200d have the endorsement of \u2064Chairman Daines and the NRSC,\u201d Lake \u2064said in \u200da statement. <strong>\u201cWe are uniting Republicans in Arizona and have a clear path to victory. The Senate Majority runs through Arizona.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The NRSC plans to\u2064 host a fundraiser for Lake in Washington, D.C., in early March alongside both Daines and\u2063 Barrasso. The Wyoming senator also plans\u2062 to travel to Arizona on Feb. 29 to campaign for Lake.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cKari has put in the hard work,\u201d said an \u2063adviser to the campaign, who asked to remain anonymous to\u2063 reflect candidly on the race. <strong>\u201cThe NRSC process is a\u2062 grueling earned endorsement. She has a very experienced campaign team that has won races, and it\u2019s\u200b showing again with her fundraising and her campaign team on the ground.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Lake\u2019s \u200bSenate campaign looks nothing \u200dlike\u200c her 2022\u2062 gubernatorial\u200b run, during which she leaned on a staff of political neophytes and rejected traditional political consultants and meetings with donors.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cDuring the primary, the other Republicans sort of bought up the consultant class \u200bin Arizona,\u201d Colton Duncan, a \u2064key aide to\u2062 Lake, \u2063said in an\u200d interview with the \u200bWashington Examiner \u200bahead\u2062 of the general \u2063election for her gubernatorial run \u200dback in 2022. <strong>\u201cIt made her something that no one wanted to\u2064 touch. When she won, \u2064they started approaching \u200dher, but she wasn\u2019t interested.\u200d I would dare any consultant to tell\u2064 Kari what she should and should not say based off of \u2063polling. She\u2019s going to laugh you out the door.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>According to those advising her campaign, Lake has changed her posture and \u200bis open\u2064 to taking pointers from influential Republicans in Washington.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cThey\u2019ll give her advice on messaging, \u200bcampaigning \u2014 and she \u2062takes that very seriously,\u201d\u200b the adviser said. <strong>\u201cShe\u2019s in regular contact \u200dwith \u2064Sen. Barrasso, Sen. Daines, Sen. (Tom) Cotton (R-AR), Sen. (John) Thune (R-SD). She talks\u2064 to these people all of the time.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Since Sinema\u2019s victory in 2018,\u2062 Arizona \u200bhas transformed\u2063 from \u200da\u200d solid \u200dred state to one\u200c of the country\u2019s most competitive battlegrounds. In 2020, Joe Biden\u2019s victory over then-President Donald Trump in \u2063the state helped him secure \u200cthe White House. In December 2020, Arizona had two Democratic senators for the first\u200b time since 1952\u2062 after Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) was sworn in. In 2022, Lake and three other Republicans running for\u2063 major statewide offices\u2063 lost. It was the first time\u2063 Democrats held\u2062 all\u2062 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/sheriff-mark-lamb-makes-push-to-reunite-fractured-arizona-gop-in-senate-fight\/\" title=\"Sheriff Mark Lamb aims to unite divided Arizona GOP in Senate battle.\">major statewide positions<\/a> since 1950.<\/p>\n<p>Lake was among one of the most vocal of the Republican candidates who\u200c promoted Trump\u2019s claims\u2062 to have won the \u20632020 election. After narrowly losing her bid for \u2064governor to Democrat Katie Hobbs\u200c in 2022, Lake continued to challenge the outcome in state court, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/arizona-braces-for-most-unpredictable-senate-race-an-absolute-dogfight\/\" title=\"Arizona prepares for highly unpredictable Senate race: 'A fierce battle lies ahead'\">claiming widespread irregularities<\/a>. She has toned down\u200b her focus on the legitimacy of past elections\u200c but has not avoided it\u2064 entirely.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s this media caricature of her sometimes\u200d that\u2019s unfair \u2064\u2014 you see \u200ba clip of\u2064 her on social media, but\u200b then you meet her, and she connects with people very \u200dwell,\u201d \u200cLake\u2019s \u200badviser said.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>However, some are\u2063 skeptical\u2062 about how long Lake will play \u200dnice with establishment Republicans. Just last month,\u200b state GOP chairman Jeff Dewit abruptly resigned from his position after\u2063 Lake released a\u2064 March \u20642023 audio recording in which he was heard offering her what she viewed as \u200ba bribe in an \u200beffort to keep\u2064 her out of the race for U.S. Senate. Gina Swoboda, an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/who-is-gina-swoboda-the-trump-backed-arizona-gop-head-elected-after-kari-lake-secret-tape-scandal\/\" title=\"Gina Swoboda, the Trump-endorsed Arizona GOP leader, succeeded Kari Lake following the secret tape controversy\">election activist endorsed<\/a> \u2063by \u2064the former president, was chosen as the next \u200cchairwoman of the Arizona Republican \u200dParty during an annual \u200dGOP\u200b meeting in late January.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cI think most Republicans I\u2019ve \u2064spoken to are worried that she\u2019s recording them if they meet \u200bwith her,\u201d Arizona-based\u200c Republican strategist\u200d Paul Bentz said. <strong>\u201cI don\u2019t know if, \u200din the state, she\u2019s having as much\u2063 luck unifying Republicans as maybe she is having with the NRSC putting their finger on the scale.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>In recent months, Lake has been on a mission to court \u200ccentrist Republicans she unapologetically \u200battacked when\u200c running for governor last cycle.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cHer\u2064 persona from what she\u2019s saying to those people behind closed doors compared to how she behaves in press conferences and on \u2064social media \u2062still don\u2019t necessarily jive with\u2063 one another,\u201d Bentz\u200c said. <strong>\u201cIf these folks from the NRSC think that she\u2019s going to take their direction and strategy, it\u2019ll be interesting to see \u200dif they will be\u2064 able to do something that few other people\u200c have been able to do, which is to get her to listen.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Other Republicans in\u200d the state have concluded that the national party had no choice but to support Lake, who has been the front-runner in the\u2064 Arizona \u200bGOP primary.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cLook, I\u2019m not a fan of Lake \u2014 \u2063but\u2064 I just think Republicans had to get on\u2062 board with her,\u201d said \u2063a Phoenix-based GOP strategist who \u2063asked to remain anonymous. \u200b <strong>\u201cIt would have been a bad look if they didn\u2019t. She really could be a great candidate if she talks about immigration, the economy, things that matter to voters here.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cShe\u2063 is charismatic, engaging, and has \u200dso much potential,\u201d<\/strong> the strategist continued. <strong>\u201cBut, that all\u2063 unravels when she starts\u200c talking\u2062 about previous\u2062 elections, \u2064or recordings from the past, or conspiracy theories, then we have some serious problems.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Democrats are\u200c celebrating the NRSC\u2019s endorsement of Lake and sent \u200dout a statement before it \u200dwas announced Tuesday.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cKari Lake is the poster child for Senate Republicans\u2019 candidate quality problem and abysmal recruiting strategy,\u201d\u2064 Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee spokesman \u2062Tommy Garcia said in a statement. <strong>\u201cAn election loser\u2062 despised by Arizona Republicans, Lake brings massive baggage and disqualifying flaws to the\u200c campaign. We\u2019re \u200cthrilled\u200b with the NRSC\u2019s choice.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Senate Democrats are waiting anxiously for Sinema to make a decision about \u2064whether \u2062she\u2019ll run for reelection. If she decides \u2064not\u200b to run, it would take the pressure off the national party, which has remained neutral thus far.\u200d Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and the DSCC have not \u200dsaid whether they would back Sinema \u2063over Gallego if she decides to run again. DSCC\u200d typically supports incumbents, but after the Arizona senator left the party in 2022, it is even more unclear.<\/p>\n<p>An aide for Senate\u200c Majority PAC, Democrats\u2019 largest \u2063outside group focused on\u200d Senate races, said it will continue spending resources solely focused on attacking Lake for now.<\/p>\n<p> <\/p>\n<h2> Will Lake truly listen to the guidance and direction offered by the national \u2064party as she courts centrist Republicans<\/h2>\n<p><span>  Choice but to embrace Lake due \u2064to her growing popularity and her \u200dpotential to flip Arizona&#8217;s Senate seat. They recognize\u2062 that her campaign has evolved, with Lake now being more open\u200c to advice and guidance from\u2064 influential Republicans.<\/p>\n<p>Arizona has become a fiercely competitive battleground,\u2063 with Democrats securing victories in recent \u2063elections. Lake, however, has remained a staunch supporter of former President Donald Trump and has questioned the legitimacy\u2064 of past elections. While \u200cshe has \u200dshifted her focus\u200c away from this issue, it still remains a\u200b part\u2064 of\u200c her platform.<\/p>\n<p>Despite her growing support from national Republicans, there are concerns about how long \u200dLake will align\u200b herself with the GOP \u200destablishment. Her release of a controversial\u2063 audio\u2062 recording involving the state GOP chairman has raised \u200bdoubts about her loyalty and trustworthiness among some Republicans.<\/p>\n<p>As Lake continues her campaign, she is making efforts to court centrist Republicans whom she previously criticized during her gubernatorial run. However, there are doubts about whether she will truly listen to the guidance and direction offered by the national party.<\/p>\n<p>In conclusion, Kari Lake&#8217;s \u200dcampaign for\u2062 governor in Arizona was initially \u2063kept at arm&#8217;s length by national Republicans\u200b due to concerns about her electability. However, as\u2064 her campaign gained\u200c momentum and polling indicated her \u2064potential victory in the primary, prominent Republicans began to endorse and support her. While some skepticism remains regarding her\u200d alignment and willingness\u200b to listen to the party&#8217;s guidance, the endorsement from the Senate\u200d Republicans&#8217; campaign \u2063arm marks a major boost \u2062to Lake&#8217;s campaign. \u200bThe\u2064 battle for Arizona&#8217;s Senate seat in 2022 will be closely watched, as it has the potential to impact the balance of power in the Senate.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In 2022, Kari Lake, a conservative outsider, ran for governor in Arizona. Initially, national Republicans were hesitant to support her due to concerns about her electability in the battleground state. However, two years later, the Senate race has brought about a change in their stance<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2657,"featured_media":2176600,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/wex-s3.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/2023-examinar-logo-500.webp","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2176599","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/wex-s3.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/2023-examinar-logo-500.webp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2176599","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2657"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2176599"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2176599\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2176600"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2176599"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2176599"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2176599"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}