The National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), which works to elect GOP senators, endorsed Republican candidate Kari Lake on Tuesday as the party aims to flip control of the Senate in the 2024 election.
Republicans have circled Arizona as a vital Senate race in the upcoming cycle as the party needs to flip at least two seats to regain control of the upper chamber of Congress. Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT), the chair of the NRSC, released a statement on Tuesday announcing the committee’s endorsement of Lake, calling her “one of the most talented candidates in the country.”
“Kari is building an effective campaign operation that has what it takes to flip Arizona’s Senate seat in November. I’m proud to endorse Kari Lake for United States Senate,” Daines said.
#AZSEN pic.twitter.com/Y1I4OHLgFb
— Senate Republicans (@NRSC) February 13, 2024
Lake, who has positioned herself as an anti-establishment firebrand within the Republican Party, accepted the NRSC’s endorsement with gratitude.
“I am honored to have the endorsement of Chairman Daines and the NRSC,” Lake told POLITICO. “We are uniting Republicans in Arizona and have a clear path to victory, The Senate Majority runs through Arizona.”
The former news anchor won the Republican nomination for Arizona governor in 2022 but was narrowly defeated by Democratic candidate Katie Hobbs, who secured around 17,000 more votes than Lake. The Republican candidate appealed the results of the 2022 election multiple times with no success, arguing the vote was swayed by “chaos” that was “engineered” by Maricopa County on Election Day. On Election Day in 2022, voting machines in Maricopa County had issues reading the ballots cast.
Along with Lake’s loss in the 2022 gubernatorial election, Republicans also failed to flip the Senate seat held by Democrat Mark Kelly as Kelly handily defeated GOP nominee Blake Masters.
Lake, a devoted Trump supporter, jumped into the Senate race in Arizona last October with the former president’s endorsement, hoping to win the seat currently held by Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, a former Democrat who recently became an independent. Multiple Republican candidates, including Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb, are challenging Lake for the nomination, while Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) is expected to be the Democratic nominee.
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The NRSC’s endorsement of Lake comes amid a scandal within the Arizona GOP that exploded when Lake leaked an audio recording of Arizona Republican Party chairman Jeff DeWit allegedly bribing the candidate to suspend her Senate campaign. DeWit called the secret audio recording from Lake “deceptive” and “selectively edited,” adding that it was “orchestrated” by Lake in an attempt to “have control over the state party.”
Lake’s campaign denied having “threatened or blackmailed” DeWit, and the Arizona GOP chair resigned after audio of his conversation with Lake was leaked.