ARIZ. GOP WAITING ON LAKE TO DECIDE ON SENATE BID
Ex-governor hopeful reportedly eyes June announcement
Former Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake is inching closer to deciding to run for Senate, and her expected candidacy has frozen the Republican field in the state as other Senate hopefuls wait for her decision.
Lake, a former local television anchor who falsely claims that she won her 2022 race for Arizona governor, is considered the most formidable opponent in a Republican primary, and at least three Republican candidates also sizing up the race are waiting for her to make a decision before they decide to run, according to three people familiar with the situation who, like others in this story, spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Lake is eyeing a June timeline for announcing her plans, a person familiar with her thinking told The Washington Post last week.
She enjoys the highest favorability ratings among Republican primary voters of five potential GOP candidates, followed by former GOP Senate candidate Blake Masters, according to a private poll, portions of which were obtained by The Post, that is viewed by Republican strategists as an accurate snapshot of the mood of the GOP electorate. Both candidates were endorsed by former President Donald Trump in their earlier bids.
Two other conservatives — entrepreneur Jim Lamon and developer Karrin Taylor Robson — trailed significantly behind the harder-right rivals, polling showed.
Lake’s popularity with Republican voters could jeopardize Republican efforts to flip a Senate seat held by Kyrsten Sinema, the former Democrat who became an independent in December. Lake’s continued denial of Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential win is believed to have contributed to her losing the support of moderate Republicans last year, delivering the governor’s seat to a Democrat.
There is deep concern about Lake’s viability in a general election, national Republican operatives said, given her recent statewide loss, continued focus on false election fraud claims and her unfavorable ratings in a recent public general election poll conducted by the polling firm OH Predictive Insights.
“Every time we throw one of these races away it puts enormous pressure on the other races on the map,” said Scott Jennings, a GOP political consultant and former political aide to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. “You have direct empirical evidence that the people of Arizona would like a different choice.”
In 2022, several Senate and gubernatorial candidates more closely aligned with the Trump wing of the party, including Lake and Masters, lost their races, prompting national Republicans to vow to take a more muscular approach to intervening in GOP primaries in 2024 on behalf of candidates who appeal to the center.
But in Arizona, more moderate candidates like Taylor Robson appear to still have limited appeal to Republican primary voters. Officials
from the National Republican Senatorial Committee, including executive director Jason Thielman, met with Lake earlier this month at her request to discuss her potential race, a sign the group is taking her seriously as a candidate.
Lake’s standing with most GOP voters in the state remains strong and could shut out other Republicans from entering the race should she get in. Some potential candidates are also waiting to see if the NRSC or the Senate Leadership Fund commit to intervening in a GOP primary, which could upend the potential field.