Former gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake is reportedly planning a campaign for U.S. Senate that will launch in October, with the news breaking after a poll showed her with a 31-point lead over Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb among Arizona Republicans if she should enter the race.
Lake is reportedly “staffing up” for a Senate campaign and will spend much of September conducting interviews and making hires for an October launch, according to a report from Axios. The former news anchor seemed to foreshadow the decision during her time in Ohio with Republican Senate candidate Bernie Moreno, saying she “might have to join” Moreno and Senator J.D. Vance (R-OH) in the Senate.
Aside from her suggestion of joining Moreno and Vance in the Senate, Lake repeatedly stressed that former President Donald Trump will be the Republican nominee in 2024. Lake said he will need support from senators like Moreno once elected. Senior Lake advisor Caroline Wren echoed these remarks, telling Axios that Trump will “need fighters like Kari Lake in Washington, DC to help enact his Agenda 47.” Wren added that Lake “will be making a final decision this fall.”
A spokesman for Lake told The Arizona Sun Times via text, “When they rigged the election, trampled on the sacred vote of Arizonans and stole Kari’s victory, they only strengthened her movement. Kari will never stop fighting for the people of Arizona.”
“That’s why she’s continuing her legal battle to reform our elections,” he added to The Sun Times. The spokesman stressed, “If Kari decides to jump into the Senate race, she will win.”
Lake’s rumored candidacy comes after an Emerson College Polling survey showed Lake with a double-digit lead, having the support of 42 percent of Arizona Republicans should she decide to enter the race. Behind her are Lamb at 11 percent, former Senate candidate Blake Masters at 7 percent, and Jim Lamon and Brian Wright at 2 percent, respectively.
The same poll showed Representative Ruben Gallego (D-AZ-03) would win a three-way contest with 36 percent of the vote should the race include Lamb and Senator Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ). Lamb would place second at 29 percent, with Sinema trailing at 21 percent. Sixteen percent of voters were undecided.
A similar poll by Noble Predictive Insights found a three-way race including Lake, Gallego, and Sinema would see Gallego win with 34 percent of the vote, trailed by Sinema with 26 percent and Lake with 25 percent.
Others have speculated that Lake may ultimately decide against a Senate race and instead accept a position as former President Donald Trump’s vice presidential running mate, should he secure the Republican nomination.
Washington Examiner reported that Lake “could be first in line” for the position should she decide against running for Senate. Still, the outlet noted that “several established” members of the Republican Party will “likely” work to “oppose Lake as Trump’s running mate, especially as the party looks to appeal to moderate and independent voters heading into 2024.”
Since Governor Katie Hobbs was declared the winner of Arizona’s 2022 gubernatorial election, Lake and her allies have presented a litany of evidence they claim proves the 2022 election results, particularly those of Lake, former attorney general candidate Abraham Hamadeh, and former Secretary of State candidate Mark Finchem were illegitimate.
Election officials have been accused of failing to verify voter signatures on mail-in ballots, failing to maintain a perfect chain of custody over ballots, failing to count all votes, and allowing – either through negligence or incompetence – a series of technical errors that disenfranchised voters in Republican strongholds. Government officials in Maricopa County have also been accused of refusing to provide documents and equipment for examination by the Arizona Attorney General’s Office.
– – –
Tom Pappert is a reporter for The Arizona Sun Times and The Star News Network. Follow Tom on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Kari Lake” by Gage Skidmore. CC BY-SA 2.0.Â
