Conservative firebrand Kari Lake is coming back to her home state to stump for Trump, North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum is paying cash for campaign contributions, and Chris Christie says he’s got the meat.
Here’s a look at the latest news from the presidential campaign trail in our Road to ’24 Roundup.
Lake Back in the Hawkeye State
Iowa native Kari Lake is back home this weekend to promote former President Donald Trump’s Agenda 47.
Lake, who narrowly lost her bid for Arizona governor in November’s election, will be at Mad Meatball Pizzeria and Pub in Des Moines from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Friday. She’ll host a Save America Breakfast beginning at 10 a.m. Saturday at Cordova Park in Otley, Iowa. The event runs from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., with Lake expected to speak at 1:20 p.m.
Lake has fought and lost several court battles challenging the results of the 2022 Arizona gubernatorial election in which Democrat Secretary of State Katie Hobbs — whose office oversees elections — defeated the former TV news anchor by less than a percentage point.
Last week, Lake, who was backed by Trump in her 2022 campaign, said she is mulling a run for the Arizona U.S. Senate held by Democrat turned-Independent Kyrsten Sinema (AZ-I).
“So we’ll be making a decision on that in the next couple of months and we’ll see,” Lake told KGUN. “I’m actually eyeing the Senate race. It’s something I’m considering.”
Burgum’s Buying
GOP presidential candidate Doug Burgum isn’t above buying a donation or two — or 10,000. The North Dakota governor needs lots of them to make it to the main event stage in next month’s first Republican Party presidential debate in Milwaukee.
Burgum’s campaign has been handing out what it bills as Biden Economic Relief cards — $20 cards to donors who chip in as little as $1 for Burgum’s run for the White House. Clearly, it’s not so much the funds the billionaire software company founder needs but the number of donations to make the cut for the debate.
RNC rules require candidates to have at least 40,000 individual donors to be eligible for the August 23 debate. So longer-shot candidates like Burgum have been doing all they can to drum up contributors.
Earlier this week, Doug Burgum for American announced it was on pace to distribute more than 20,000 Biden Economic Relief cards in the 48 hours since the fundraising appeal’s public launch.
“So-called Bidenomics is a failure, and relief from disastrous Bidenflation can’t come fast enough for American families,” campaign spokesman Lance Trover said. “At this pace, we could reach our 50,000 contributor max by the end of the weekend so anyone who needs some relief should act fast.”
Burgum will also need at least 1 percent support in three qualifying polls, two of them national, after July 1. He’s polling at just a tenth of a percent in the RealClearPolitics average of Republican primary polls, including zero percent in this month’s Economist/YouGov and Morning Consult polls.
Christie’s 40,000
Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie says he’s got the donor numbers to make the debate.
The well-nourished Trump hater said his presidential campaign has collected donations from more than 40,000 people.
“Last night, we went past 40,000 unique donors in just 35 days,” Christie told Anderson Cooper on CNN earlier this week. “There is a donor in every state in America, and we have over 200 donors in 36 states.”
Christie is polling at 3 percent in the latest Morning Consult poll. He’s averaging 2.6 percent support among Republicans, according to RealClear Politics.
Lonely Politics
Former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson reportedly is confident in his chances to make the debate stage.
But if his sparsely attended campaign stop in Nevada, Iowa, this week is any indication, making the cut will be tough for the old Republican.
Thanks to Governor @AsaHutchinson for visiting Nevada and answering questions from voters today! #iacaucus pic.twitter.com/QyWKIaxkGv
— Brett Barker (@brettbarker) July 12, 2023
“I see you guys are still practicing social distancing and limiting crowd size,” one commenter snarked on Nevada Mayor Brett Barker’s tweeted photo of the small crowd.
And on Thursday, the New York Times published a story with the headline, “Asa Hutchinson is selling Bush-era Republicanism. Buyers Are Scarce.”
Ouch.
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M.D. Kittle is the National Political Editor for The Star News Network.
Photo “Kari Lake” by Kari Lake.
