Kari Lake, a former local news anchor turned conspiracy-minded Republican firebrand, is projected to win the party’s Arizona Senate primary Tuesday and will head to a general election this November to replace outgoing independent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema.
With 66 percent of the votes counted, Lake was projected to win the primary with 53.3 percent of the vote, according to The New York Times. The Associated Press also confirmed her win.
“Thank you for putting your faith in me, Arizona. I won’t let you down,” Lake wrote on X. “Together, we’re going to save this state. Together, we’re going to #MakeArizonaGrandAgain.”
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Lake’s biggest challenger was Mark Lamb, the former sheriff of Pinal County. Both Lamb and Lake largely agreed on many major issues, including immigration, border security, and abortion. Lamb sought to portray himself as a more electable candidate.
Both candidates also voiced support for former President Donald Trump, but Lake ultimately secured the much-coveted Trump endorsement on Monday.
“She’s fantastic,” Trump said on a phone call to voters with Lake on Monday, the Associated Press reported. “She will not let us down. Kari Lake, I just think she’s going to be as good as you can get. There’s nobody going to be better.”
Lake will go on to challenge Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego, a congressman who has represented a district including downtown Phoenix and Glendale since 2015. Gallego ran unopposed in the Democratic primary.
“It’s official – my opponent is Kari Lake,” Gallego wrote on X following the announcement. “Arizona, the choice is clear: Kari wants to ban abortion. I will always protect abortion rights.”
Lake rose to prominence in the Republican Party after supporting false claims that Trump won Arizona in the 2020 election—but was robbed of the state’s electoral votes after widespread voter fraud threw the race to President Joe Biden.
Two years later, she ran as the Republican nominee for governor of the Grand Canyon State. After her defeat to current Gov. Katie Hobbs, Lake challenged the results of that election as well, and accused the Democrats of perpetuating more mass voter fraud across the state. Lake filed multiple lawsuits attempting to overturn the election, none of which have proven successful.
She was later sued by Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer, a Republican, who claims that the former gubernatorial hopeful made false statements about his conduct during the 2020 election—which led to death threats.
Lake did not fight the suit and requested default judgment. A judge will determine how much the former news anchor owes Richer, but lawyers for both parties continue court proceedings at this time.
