Recent Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake (R. Ariz.) is slated to launch her 2024 U.S. Senate campaign next month.
The former television news anchor, who lost to Democratic governor Katie Hobbs in the November 2022 race but continues to litigate the results to little avail, will throw her hat in the ring for the U.S. Senate in what could be a tight race next fall as Democrats already have a slim 51–49 majority in the chamber. Lake will announce her bid at a rally on October 10, the Wall Street Journal first reported Thursday.
“We need to get a senator in there who is going to fight back and put America first,” Lake said.
Upon breaking the news, Lake will challenge incumbent senator Kyrsten Sinema’s place on the Senate floor and go up against Democratic representative Ruben Gallego, who is expected to become his party’s nominee. Sinema, now an independent, left the Democratic Party in December.
So far, the Republican field for the Senate race in Arizona is narrow. Blake Masters, the GOP’s past contender, has yet to officially launch his campaign, and local sheriff Mark Lamb is struggling to gain traction several months after entering the race in April.
Ahead of her official announcement, Lake will visit Washington, D.C., next week to show Republican leaders why she’d make a great fit for the Senate. “I’d like to meet them to show them that I’m a very reasonable person who loves my state,” she said.
Lake will reportedly meet with Josh Holmes, a Republican strategist, and senators John Barrasso (R., Wyo.) and Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.), among other lawmakers and officials, while there.
She is also one of the key figures to become former president Donald Trump’s running-mate choice if he becomes the Republican presidential nominee; however, a Senate run on her part would complicate that possibility.