Arizona GOP Senate candidate Kari Lake focused her remarks at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee on Tuesday on the need for a major course correction from President Joe Biden’s and the Democrats’ “radical left” policies.
She pledged to be a fierce “mama bear” in Washington, D.C., if elected in that fight, pledging to support Republican nominee’s Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” agenda. Trump has endorsed Lake — a former Phoenix news anchor and 2022 GOP nominee for governor — in the race.
Lake cited Biden’s border and economic and education policies as all being part of the problem, and she said that Rep. Ruben Gallego of Arizona, who is running unopposed as the Democrats’ Senate nominee, has been 100 percent supportive of that agenda by his votes in Congress.
“These guys, they are full of, they’re full of bad ideas. Just last week Ruben Gallego voted to let the millions of people who poured into our country illegally cast a ballot in this upcoming election,” Lake said.
Gallego voted against the SAVE Act, which would have required those registering to vote to show documentary proof of citizenship and required states to remove non-citizens from their existing voter rolls.
Biden opposed the bill, saying in a statement, “It is already illegal for noncitizens to vote in Federal Elections — it is a federal crime punishable by prison and fines.”
Gallego said essentially the same in a post on X and added his concern that “thousands of Native Americans would be disenfranchised.”
Lake argued regarding the Democrat agenda overall, “The great news is that we can solve these problems, and to be honest, we must solve these problems for the sake of our children, because that’s really what this is all about. Right? The next generation. The future of our country.”
“I learned something watching the Nature Channel that the most dangerous place on planet earth is between a mama bear and her baby cubs. And that’s exactly where the radical left have found themselves, and it’s not going to go well for them. Because guess what, they have awoken a sleeping giant,” she added.
“Actually, I can think of one thing more dangerous than a grizzly bear, and it’s a middle-aged fed up mother in Washington, D.C.,” the 54-year-old said.
Lake faces Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb in the state’s July 30 GOP primary, but polling shows her with a large lead.
Additionally, she has closed the gap with Gallego.
According to the political site FiveThirtyEight, polls as recently as May found the Democrat with a 10 to 13 percent lead over Lake. But multiple surveys within the last month show the race a dead heat.
Most recently, an internal poll conducted by J.L. Partners for the Lake campaign has the Republican up by one percentage point, 44 to 43 percent. Nine percent said they are undecided, and 3 percent indicated they will vote for the Green Party candidate in the race.
The poll was conducted from July 10-11 with a sample of 513 likely voters. The margin of error is +/- 4.3 percent.
National Review noted the poll has Trump ahead of Biden 46 to 40 percent, which is consistent with recent public polling in the state.
“The more Arizonans learn about Ruben Gallego’s record of backing open border policies along with every other part of Joe Biden’s disastrous agenda, the farther they will move away from him. Arizonans deserve a real leader in the Senate, not a rubber stamp for the radical left,” Tate Mitchell, a spokesman for Lake’s campaign, told National Review.
“This poll shows the trend in the Arizona Senate race: Kari Lake is leading Ruben Gallego. President Trump is demolishing Biden in Arizona, as the Biden campaign has written off Arizona,” the Lake campaign told NR in a statement.
“Recent public polling confirms this: New York… pic.twitter.com/JtIy4nk6jA
— Kari Lake War Room (@KariLakeWarRoom) July 18, 2024
Control of the Senate overall may come down to the results in Arizona in November.
Democrats currently have a one-seat advantage in the chamber, including four independent senators who caucus with the party.
Republicans are expected to pick up the West Virginia seat currently held by retiring Democrat Joe Manchin, which would bring the breakdown to 50-50 if the party control of the seats otherwise stayed the same.
In addition to Arizona, states where Republicans have a good chance to flip a seat include Maryland, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, Ohio and Pennsylvania.
Disclosure: Floyd Brown, one of the owners and founder of The Western Journal, is serving on a volunteer basis as chairman of Kari Lake’s Senate campaign.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
