Arizona’s open seat in the 2024 Senate elections is a missed opportunity for Republicans. They will not get a pickup here.
Kari Lake (photo, left) cruised to an easy GOP primary victory over nutty Arizona sheriff Mark Lamb, but will lose to Rep. Ruben Gallego in November, keeping this seat in the Democratic column after Sen. Kirsten Sinema vacates it. She chose not to run for re-election.
Lake is a flaky election denier who’s still contesting her 2022 defeat for Arizona governor, an election she lost because 30,000 Republicans voted for her Democratic opponent (see story here). And now, this year, the Arizona Police Association has endorsed Galleg0 (see story here).
All of this, of course, suggests she’s unelectable. So does the latest polling, which shows her 13% behind Gallego. That’s a huge deficit in a nominally Republican-leaning state, where Trump presently has a slight edge, which means even a sizeable number of MAGA voters aren’t supporting her; and seeing these numbers, Arizona GOP campaign consultants can see “no future in politics” for her (read story here).
Lake has never held public office, and lacks any qualifications to govern. She was a TV newscaster before seeking to ride MAGA to a political career. She’s not going to have a career in politics, and she’s too partisan to return to journalism, so what else could she do if she needs a real job? How about yoga instructor or dog walker?