Kari Lake, Who Lost Arizona Governor's Race, To Announce GOP Senate Bid: Reports

Kari Lake, the election conspiracy theorist who ran an unsuccessful campaign for Arizona governor last year, will launch a Senate bid as early as next month, people familiar with the matter told Politico and CNN.

The highly competitive seat is currently held by Kyrsten Sinema, who switched her party affiliation from Democrat to independent late last year. That move presented her former party with a devastating scenario: that a Democrat and Sinema split the liberal and moderate votes while the Republican nominee slides into victory ― possibly securing GOP control of the Senate.

Lake, who has closely aligned herself with former President Donald Trump, reportedly hopes to be that Republican. She’d vie against progressive Rep. Ruben Gallego (D), who announced his candidacy in January, and potentially Sinema, who has not yet publicly said if she’ll seek reelection.

A poll last month found that in a potential race among the three, Gallego leads with 34%. Without Sinema in the race, his lead grows to 45%.

The former Arizona broadcast news personality lost the state’s gubernatorial race last year to Democrat Katie Hobbs. Despite losing by more than 17,000 votes, Lake has repeatedly claimed she won the election and has led numerous legal challenges to the election’s results. Before that, she championed Trump’s baseless claims that he, too, was a victim of election fraud after losing the 2020 election to President Joe Biden.

Lake ― who holds hardline conservative views against abortion, LGBTQ+ protections, undocumented immigration and gun reform ― would be seeking the GOP Senate nomination against Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb, another ardent Trump supporter.

Blake Masters, the Republican who lost his Senate bid to Arizona Democrat Mark Kelly last year, is reportedly prepping a bid for Sinema’s seat, too.