Kari Lake appears to be running for Senate: The 2022 gubernatorial candidate, who has still not acknowledged that she lost that race, is getting ready to run for Senate, in what might shape up as a three-way Senate race
Kari Lake Wants to Be Senator Lake
Kari Lake, a former news anchor who had never before run for political office, ran for governor of Arizona in 2022 with former President Donald Trump’s support.
She lost the race, to Democrat Katie Hobbs – but refused to concede in a move that looked someway unhinged as it was clear she lost – pursuing a series of what looked like endless doomed court challenges.
She’s also frequently pushed wild conspiracy theories, including one that Hobbs and the state’s entire Democratic establishment is on the take from drug cartels.
Lake has been seen as vying for a spot on Trump’s 2024 ticket as vice president, but a new report says she’s pursuing a different office in the 2024 cycle.
According to Axios, Lake is preparing to enter Arizona’s Senate race. She is staffing up and preparing an October launch for a campaign that, per the report, will “replay — and relitigate — GOP losses in the last two elections.”
Lake would presumably face a competitive Republican primary, possibly against candidates not interested in emphasizing the losses of the past. Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb is running for the seat, while Blake Masters, who ran for the state’s other U.S. Senate seat in 2022 and also lost, is said to be considering another run.
But whoever the Republican candidate is, a three-way Senate race for that seat is likely.
Sen. Krysten Sinema (I-AZ), who left the Democratic Party to become an independent, holds the seat currently but has not announced whether she’s running for re-election. Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) is running as a Democrat.
“When President Trump gets back in the White House he’s going to need fighters like Kari Lake in Washington, DC to help enact his Agenda 47,” Caroline Wren, a Lake adviser, told Axios. “Kari Lake is seriously considering a run for the United States Senate and will be making a final decision this fall.”
An Arizona poll released earlier this month looked at how a three-way race with Sinema, Gallego and Lake might go.
“In a hypothetical three-way race that included Sinema, Gallego retained a significant advantage. Sinema’s entry caused an 11-point drop in Gallego’s support and a 9-point drop for Lake, statistically tying Sinema and Lake with support from one-quarter of voters,” The Noble Predictive Insights poll said. “In this scenario, Sinema performed better among Independents, gaining 38% of their support compared to Gallego’s 24% and Lake’s 16%.”
“Congressman Gallego’s strength in head-to-head matchups shows his appeal across various demographic groups, making him a formidable candidate in this race. However, Senator Sinema’s entry could create a more complex electoral landscape, given her ability to draw support from Independents,” pollster Mike Noble said in the release.
On Twitter, National Review writer Charles Cooke posted the Axios story under the word “suicidal,” implying that a Lake candidacy would not be good for the Republican Party.
Per Newsweek, Lake appeared in Ohio this week, at the time of a ballot measure that would have made it harder to pass constitutional amendments. The measure failed, in what was seen as a defeat for anti-abortion forces.
In her visit, Lake blamed Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose for “ballot scanning issues” in the elections.
“Sound familiar?? Looks like they took a page out of the Maricopa County ‘selections’ playbook. Today is Election Day in Ohio and the machines don’t work. The swampy never-Trumper Ohio Secretary of State was too busy running for another office to do his job making sure Election Day runs smoothly. Reminds me of the jacka**** who run Maricopa County officials when they sabotaged Election Day to stop the will of We the People,” Lake said this week, per Newsweek.
LaRose is not, in fact, a never-Trumper; actually, he endorsed Trump for president just last month.
Author Expertise and Experience
Stephen Silver is a Senior Editor for 19FortyFive. He is an award-winning journalist, essayist and film critic, who is also a contributor to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Broad Street Review and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. Follow him on Twitter at @StephenSilver.
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