Failed Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake has re-entered politics. On Tuesday night, Lake declared her candidacy for the Republican race for Sen. Kyrsten Sinema’s (I) Senate seat.
“This mama bear has a whole lot of fight left in her,” Lake said in a speech to a couple hundred supporters in Scottsdale, a ritzy Phoenix suburb, on Tuesday. “I am not going to retreat. I’m going to stand on top of this hill with every single one of you, and I know you’re by my side as I formally announce my candidacy for the United States Senate.”
This puts Lake in a three-way race for Sinema’s seat, joining Democrat Rep. Ruben Gallego. The race is an important pickup for either party hoping to maintain a majority in the 2024 Senate. Sinema left the Democratic Party in December 2022 to become an Independent, only days after a runoff election victory meant Democrats had a 51-50 seat majority. It was widely seen as a ploy to avoid being primaried out of her seat as Sinema’s constituents no longer like her (if they ever did).
Lake basically moved into Trump’s Florida resort and golf club after losing the Arizona governor’s mansion in 2022 in an apparently desperate attempt to beat out Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene for Trump’s vice presidential slot. “Kari Lake is there every night,” an anonymous source told People in June. “There’s a suite there that she practically lives in.”
But, since Trump clearly hates anyone vying for his spotlight, it didn’t take long before he was over his new roomie. “She’s a shameless, ruthless demagogue who wants power and will do whatever she has to do to get it,” an anonymous Trump adviser told the Daily Beast of Lake in July. She also apparently pissed him off for being a “spotlight hound” and “running around saying she should be VP.” Takes one to know one or whatever.
Regardless, she seems to have gotten back on Trump’s good side by abandoning the VP race. During Tuesday’s rally, she played an endorsement video from the quadruple-indicted former president. “When I’m back in the White House, I need strong fighters like Kari in the Senate. She is a fighter. She’s strong, and she’s good,” Trump said. “Republicans must win, and we must win very, very big. It’s much harder for them to cheat if we do it like we should.”
It’s interesting that Trump chose a woman who lost by more than 17,000 votes to win big, but I’m no election strategy expert. “Kari is one of the toughest fighters in our movement,” he continued. “And I am proud to give her my complete and total endorsement for the United States Senate.” Gross.
However, I’m sure this news of a Republican candidate has ruined Sinema’s day, and honestly, that’s enough to make me chuckle these days.