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Former GOP gubernatorial hopeful Kari Lake is looking into running for the U.S. Senate seat for Arizona in 2024.
Lake, who still claims she won her midterm race against Democrat Governor Katie Hobbs while pushing false claims of voting irregularities, discussed her future political ambitions during an interview on the One America News Network (OAN).
The Donald Trump-endorsed candidate, who is still fighting her November 2022 election defeat in the courts, said she is "seriously considering" a run for the Arizona seat currently held by Independent Senator Krysten Sinema.
Lake has been touted as a potential Republican candidate for U.S. Senate ever since Sinema confirmed she would be leaving the Democratic Party to register as an independent last December.
"I am seriously considering a run for Senate, yes absolutely," Lake said. "Just because they stole an election we're so dangerous to them, I'm so dangerous to the status quo and this rotten swamp that they're willing to steal an election to stop me and our movement. I'm not letting them get away with that. We're not going away. And so I am seriously considering a run for Senate.
"All the polling shows that I would win," Lake added. "Not just the primary, the polling is showing that I would beat Kyrsten Sinema and this socialist guy that's running for the Democrats, [Rep. Ruben Gallego]."
Despite Lake's claims, all the most recent serious polls show that Gallego is currently the favorite to take the seat from Sinema in 2024.
An OH Predictive Insights poll of 1,000 registered voters published in February found that Gallego would come out on top in a potential three-way race between the Democrat (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.
Mike Noble, OH Predictive Insights Chief of Research, said one of Lake's biggest issue is that the MAGA Republican is struggling to attract support from key Independent voters. According to the OHPI survey, Lake's net favorability among Independents is -36, a 21-point decrease from the -15 she recorded in a September poll.
"Since the midterms, Lake and [former GOP Arizona Senate candidate Blake] Masters' images have taken a real hit among the all-important Independent voters," Noble said.
"Being well-liked is truly half the battle, but the best bet for any potential candidate to stay competitive in the coming election is to continue capturing more support from Arizona's influential Independents."
There have been some polls that suggest Lake would win the Arizona seat at the next election.
In January, a survey from BluePrint Polling said Lake would come out on top in a hypothetical three-way 2024 Arizona U.S. Senate Race (35.7 percent), followed by Gallego at 31.9 percent, with Sinema third on 13.8 percent.
Another Public Policy Polling survey from December 2022 also 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.
About the writer
Ewan Palmer is a Newsweek News Reporter based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on US politics, and Florida ... Read more