Kari Lake to announce Arizona senate run against Kyrsten Sinema
Kari Lake is set to announce a senate run in Arizona against Independent Senator Kyrsten Sinema following the former broadcaster’s failed run for governor in 2022.
Ms Lake told The Wall Street Journal that she will officially announce her candidacy on 10 October. The race is set to be a three-way battle between the Republicans, likely represented by Ms Lake, Ms Sinema, the incumbent and a former Democrat, and US House Representative Ruben Gallego who’s set to campaign for the Democratic nomination.
Ms Lake is still claiming that fraud lost her the 2022 gubernatorial election but she has been unable to prove it, much like former President Donald Trump in his similar quest regarding the 2020 presidential election.
She told The Journal that she would continue her so-far failed attempts to litigate the 2022 election even as she runs for the Senate, a race which may decide which party controls the chamber.
“I’m a mom, I can multitask,” she told the paper.
Arizona is one of the most closely watched states in US politics, with tight races electing Democrats in recent cycles for president, senators, and governor as more moderate GOP voters and independents moved towards the Democrats and away from Mr Trump and his supporters, such as Ms Lake, who has been one of his most effusive backers.
During her 2022 run for governor, Ms Lake garnered widespread media attention, as well as the attention of Mr Trump, for her attacks on the media and Republicans who went against the former president, such as the late Arizona Senator John McCain, the 2008 GOP presidential nominee.
Ms Sinema hasn’t announced a re-election campaign, but her staff has reportedly been preparing an independent bid based in the centre ground while Mr Gallego, a progressive House Democrat, announced that he’s running for the seat earlier this year.
While Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb is also running for the GOP nomination, Ms Lake is expected to represent the party in the general election because of her strong support with the party base.
She has been discussed as a possible running mate for Mr Trump in 2024, but would be less likely to be offered the nomination if she’s representing the GOP in a senate race they need to win to get back control of the chamber.
She wouldn’t comment on what she would do if offered the VP slot by Mr Trump when speaking to The Journal.
Blake Masters was the Republican nominee who lost to Democratic Senator and former astronaut Mark Kelly in 2022. He was set to run for the senate again against Ms Sinema, but halted those plans following a phone call from Mr Trump laying out Ms Lake’s strengths as a candidate, according to The Journal.
National Republicans are concerned that a Lake candidacy would make it harder to win back the seat even as they acknowledge that she’s likely to end up being the nominee.
Mitch McConnell, the senate minority leader from Kentucky, hasn’t agreed to spend any campaign funds in Arizona, and his allies say that Ms Lake would need to show that she will be competitive, The Journal noted.
In 2022, some Republicans lamented that nominees supported by Mr Trump were too extreme and not competitive in their general election matchups with Democrats often seen as more amiable by the voters.
Ms Lake told the paper that she hopes to meet with Mr McConnell and that she would back him as leader if he remains the top candidate.
“I’d like to meet them to show them that I’m a very reasonable person who loves my state,” Ms Lake told The Journal.
She will travel to Washington, DC next week to meet with a variety of Republicans. She’s also set to meet Republican strategist Josh Holmes, a McConnell ally who often meets candidates running in close races.
The chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), Republican Montana Senator Steve Daines, told The Journal that Ms Lake is a “talented campaigner with an impressive ability to fire up the grassroots”.
More follows…
