PHOENIX — It's no secret Kari Lake is running for U.S. Senate, Lake hinted at a run for months but made it official on Tuesday, announcing her campaign at an event in the Valley surrounded by supporters.
While Lake is expected to be a decisive favorite in a Republican primary against Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb, many political experts say Lake will have her work cut out for her in the general election.
"She has an even bigger job to just tell everyone who she can be. We already know who she is, and the voters rejected her once," said Republican political consultant Barrett Marson.
Marson says Lake needs to move on from election denialism and start telling voters how she will deal with the issues of the day like gas prices, inflation, and the border. Democrat Ruben Gallego is doing it. Incumbent Independent Kyrsten Sinema, who has yet to announce, figures to add her record of achievements during the five years she's been senator.
"The strategies behind their candidacies, we don't know fully yet. But if Lake and Gallego train their fire on each other, Sinema could easily just scoot up the middle," said Marson.
In July, Noble Predictive Insight's Mike Noble released a poll showing 51% of Arizona voters have an unfavorable view of Kari Lake. Noble says he's seen nothing since the poll to change his view.
"We have not seen her try to move to the middle or moderate her position. It looks like she's still using the same state strategy which she ran in the governor's race."
Noble sees paths to victory for both Gallego and Sinema. For Gallego, Noble says he needs to hold on to his base and then chip away at Independent voters from Kyrsten Sinema. Regarding Sinema, Noble says having Lake in the race will actually improve her chances of victory.
"We saw from testing one of the more hard right candidates you're really pushing moderate Republicans. They can't vote for a Democrat," Noble said, "but Kyrsten Sinema who's been a friend to them with the filibuster block and things like that they're willing to do that."
It's been 48 years since the last and only time more than two candidates faced off in an Arizona U.S. Senate race. Dennis DeConcini won then. But a lot has changed since then.
