Kari Lake Says She's Seriously Considering Major Run After Looking at Polls
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Former Arizona Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake speaks during the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) at Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center on March 4, 2023 in National Harbor, Maryland.
Former Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake has said she will "seriously consider" running for the U.S. Senate in the Grand Canyon state.
Lake, who still maintains she won her midterm race for governor against Democrat Katie Hobbs despite no evidence of voting irregularities, discussed her future plans after the Arizona Supreme Court declined to hear most of the Republican's appeal in a lawsuit challenging November's result.
Lake has been touted as a potential Republican candidate for U.S. Senate from Arizona in 2024 ever since Sen. Kyrsten Sinema confirmed she would be leaving the Democratic Party to register as an independent last December.
When asked by political commentator Charlie Kirk on his podcast whether she will run for Senate, the Donald Trump-endorsed Lake replied that she is focusing on her election lawsuit while pushing the false claim the midterm race was "rigged" against her.
"I don't know politically what I will do next. I never had any desire to get into politics, and the people of Arizona recruited me to run for governor and we have led an amazing movement of We The People," Lake said.
"It is something I will seriously consider," Lake added. "I've looked at a lot of polling, probably five polls showing that I can not only win handily in a primary, but I can go on to win the entire race for Senate."
In late 2022 and early 2023, there were some polls which suggested Lake could win the Arizona Senate seat should she choose to run.
In January, a survey from BluePrint Polling found that Lake would come out on top in a hypothetical 2024 Arizona U.S. Senate Race (35.7 percent), followed by Democratic challenger Ruben Gallego at 31.9 percent, with Sinema third on 13.8 percent.
On December 22, a Public Policy Polling (PPP) survey found that Lake would win a potential three-way race between her, Sinema and Gallego, with the Republican on top with 41 percent, Gallego second at 40 percent, and Sinema third at 13 percent.
However, all of the most recent polls show Gallego is the favorite to win the Senate race in 2024.
On February 16, an OH Predictive Insights poll of 1,000 registered voters found that Gallego would come out on top in a potential three-way race between him (34 percent), Lake (26 percent) and Sinema (19 percent), as well a double-digit lead in a hypothetical face-off against just Lake, 43 percent to 33 percent.
Gallego, a U.S. congressman for Arizona, would also win in a three-way race if the potential Republican candidate was either former Arizona Governor Doug Ducey, former GOP gubernatorial candidate Karrin Taylor Robson or former far-right Arizona Senate hopeful Blake Masters, according to the poll.
Speaking to Kirk, Lake also attacked her potential Senate rivals from Arizona amid suggestions she plans to run against them.
"I'm very concerned about somebody like Ruben Gallego," Lake said. "He's a socialist and maybe even more maybe even hinging on a communist, a Marxist. And his voting record is atrocious. I don't believe he's an honest man.
"And Krysten Sinema, she votes with Joe Biden 93 percent of the time, she votes with this maniac who's driving our country into the ditch.
"She is a radical in the Senate. And I don't think she's that well liked, except for people like [Utah Senator] Mitt Romney who adores her, so that tells you what kind of person she is," Lake added.
Sinema and Gallego have been contacted for comment.
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