Former Arizona Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake has remained in the fight, pursuing legal challenges of election discrepancies in Maricopa County. However, she is not reliant on her long-shot bid to reverse the governor’s election but has her sights on national office in the United States Senate, according to a new report:
Former Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake is maintaining a strong lead in the state’s Republican primary for Senate in 2024 as several paths lie before her to break into national politics.
A poll from Emerson College released Tuesday shows Lake with a 31-percentage-point lead over her nearest competitor. The firebrand conservative received 42% of the vote, compared to Republican candidate and Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb‘s 11%.
The report continued:
The former TV news anchor has hit the campaign trail with Ohio GOP Senate candidate Bernie Moreno in recent days, drawing a crowd of more than 650 people in a rural area.
“I’m really, really excited about [Sen. J.D. Vance], I’m super excited that Bernie Moreno’s going to be in the Senate. And if they’re in the Senate, I just might have to join them,” she said during a Monday fundraiser in Cleveland with Vance and Moreno.
According to other reports, Lake is vetting staff for a Senate campaign and may possibly announce in October, spending most of September interviewing potential candidates for her campaign headquarters and ground army. As is happening in Nevada , the possibility is strong for the GOP to regain ground in the Senate.
In December, Democrat Senator Kyrsten Sinema changed her party designation to Independent, even though she still caucuses with the Senate Democrats. Sinema is being challenged for her Senate seat by Democrat State Rep. Ruben Gallego, who out-raised Sinema in the last quarter. Sinema reportedly has nearly $10.8 million in cash-on-hand from last quarter, but still has yet to officially announce her re-election. Because of Sinema’s sometimes centrist leanings and the change in party designation, she has lost the support of the progressive Left.
Gallego greeted President Joe Biden when he landed at Grand Canyon National Park Airport on Monday. Sinema did make an appearance with Biden on Tuesday, when he designated the greater Grand Canyon a national monument.
Should Lake make an announcement for Senate, it will be a three-way race with the potential of a Sinema/Gallego matchup splitting the Democrat vote. But word on the ground is that former President Donald Trump has his sights on Lake for his Vice President.
Lake hasn’t launched her campaign for Senate, and it’s possible she could have a different position in mind: vice president to former President Donald Trump, should he win the GOP nomination and the general election against President Joe Biden in 2024.
Trump has reportedly been eyeing some GOP presidential candidates and other conservative leaders as possible running mates. Lake, who is an adamant supporter of the former president, could be first in line if she decides against a Senate run.
In the meantime, Lake continues to make her presence known, speaking out on voting chaos in Ohio, bringing it to the Biden administration on their open border policies, and keeping up her profile as a fighter as she continues to fundraise off her ongoing legal battles over the governor’s race.
Of course, the McCain Republicans and the Never Trump contingent are not pleased over this news. Dan Eberhart wrote:
This is exactly what the culture of losing looks like in the Republican Party. We saw what happened when the GOP nominates bad candidates in 2022. What should have been a red wave turned into a ripple. We need to learn from our mistakes, not repeat them.