‘I’m going to win this’: Kari Lake dismisses Senate speculation as she says she plans to proceed with the lawsuit and become Arizona governor
- Kari Lake on Wednesday dismissed speculation about an Arizona Senate run
- A number of Republicans have been linked to the next year’s race
- But she said she plans to continue with her legal challenge to last year’s election
Kari Lake on Wednesday downplayed speculation that she is seeking a Senate nomination, insisting she was only interested in moving forward with her election lawsuit.
“I’m going to win this,” she told reporters at the Republican National Committee’s winter meeting at the luxury Waldorf Astoria Monarch Beach hotel in California.
Trump-backed Lake lost her campaign as Arizona governor by 17,000 votes.
She has blamed printer problems and inconsistencies in the way voters were routed to other polling stations for her defeat and has filed a lawsuit to overturn the result.
Kari Lake dismissed speculation Wednesday night that she plans to run for the Senate
She was speaking at the luxury Waldorf Astoria Monarch Beach hotel in California, where RNC members are gathering for their winter meeting and election of a chairman
Her fiery attitude and alliance with Trump have made her a darling of the MAGA grassroots.
On Wednesday, she was at a luxury resort helping Harmeet Dhillon in their campaign to unseat Ronna McDaniel as Republican National Committee chairwoman.
“We have an amazing movement of real people,” she said. “They call it the base, I call it the Mama Bears and the Papa Bear Bears.
“And we have an opportunity to take that energy and channel it into the Republican Party and take over this country. We are all ready for this. We need a change to make that happen.”
But the woman, who calls Trump a “killer” for her dogged insistence on winning, couldn’t help but steer things back to her own campaign.
“They cheated in the Arizona election,” she said, “and they’ve been cheating for a long time.”
Harmeet Dhillon is running to unseat Ronna McDaniel as leader and says the choice of venue shows how the RNC and its lavish spending are losing touch with voters
She was asked if she plans to run for the Senate when Senator Kyrsten Sinema is up for re-election next year.
She said he only intends to keep fighting to overturn the November election result.
“We will use every opportunity to end voter fraud in Arizona,” she said.
“They sabotaged election day to take our vote and vote away from us.
“Only after that would I even consider it.”
Blake Masters, who lost his Senate race last year, is also said to be considering another run.
Earlier in the day, Lake suffered a setback when the Arizona Republic found Lake alienated about 33,000 voters in Maricopa County near Phoenix, who eventually sided with their Democratic rival Katie Hobbs but supported Republicans in other state races.
Sen. Kyrsten Sinema is standing for re-election next year. She became independent last year, and the race is attracting a number of high-profile Republicans
She is scheduled to perform at a Save Arizona rally in Phoenix on Sunday.
Late last year, a Maricopa County judge ordered Lake to pay some of Hobbs’ legal fees related to the lawsuit, most recently in a series of setbacks.
Judge Peter Thompson dismissed Lake’s lawsuit, saying there was no convincing evidence of wrongdoing.
She has appealed that finding.
Analysis of campaign donations shows that denial is a lucrative business. In the month and a half between the election and the end of the year, Lake raised $2,515,169 after the election.