According to a new poll, Kari Lake, who narrowly lost her GOP campaign for governor of Arizona last year, has a significant lead over other potential Republican opponents in the state’s 2024 U.S. Senate race.
Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, who was elected in 2018 as a Democrat but is now an independent, will run for reelection in 2020 as an independent.
J.L. Partners conducted a survey of 550 prospective Arizona GOP primary participants and discovered that Lake has the support of 38 percent of Republicans.
The fact that “Undecided” came in second with 29 percent reflects the condition of voters’ minds.
Among the remaining candidates, Karrin Taylor Robson had 10% support, Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb had 8%, 2022 Senate candidate Blake Masters had 7%, Abe Hamadeh, who ran for attorney general in 2022, had 4%, and Jim Lamon had 3%.
The 10-12 April survey had an error margin of plus or minus 4.2 percentage points.
Lamb, who proclaimed his candidacy on Tuesday, is the only Republican candidate who has so far declared. Ruben Gallego is the only declared Democratic candidate for the seat.
If the GOP primary were between Lamb and Lake, according to the survey, she would win 54 percent to 24 percent, with 24 percent uncommitted.
In a query regarding Arizona Republicans’ preference for the 2024 vice presidential nominee, Lake also came out on top.
Twenty-two percent of survey respondents chose Lake as their preferred option. Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley and “Undecided” followed with 15 percent, followed by multiple other candidates.
Seventy percent of survey respondents rated Lake as either very favorable or favorable.
Lake narrowly lost to Democrat Katie Hobbs in the contest for governor and has argued for months that Maricopa County election irregularities affected the outcome. Although Lake has lost most of her court cases, a county court is still reviewing one of her claims.
She has stated that she remains committed to winning her legal battle.
“We are living in a banana republic called Arizona right now with people who have taken control of our government that were not elected to take those roles,” she said last week on Steven Bannon’s podcast.
“They can feel the drum beat,” She said. “We are coming at them. They can hear it, and they know we are not going to stop.
“I’m like a dog on a bone, and I will not stop until we get justice in Arizona.”
However, according to Alex McNicoll of Lake’s campaign, she is not yet finished with politics.
“Kari Lake is committed to fighting for the people of Arizona, championing America First policies, & doing everything in her power to ensure that President Trump is elected in 2024,” McNicoll was quoted as saying in a tweet from the Lake campaign Monday. “One thing is for sure, you haven’t seen the last of Kari Lake.”
.@realalexnicoll: "@KariLake is committed to fighting for the people of Arizona, championing America First policies, & doing everything in her power to ensure that President Trump is elected in 2024. One thing is for sure, you haven’t seen the last of Kari Lake.” pic.twitter.com/5xKy4adJzE
— Kari Lake War Room (@KariLakeWarRoom) April 17, 2023
In a survey of Arizona Republicans, former President Donald Trump led Florida Governor Ron DeSantis by a margin of 47 percent to 24 percent in the race for the Republican nomination for president. Others numbered in the single digits.