Senator Steve Daines (R-MT) described former Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake as one of the “most talented politicians” running in the Republican Party in an interview on Tuesday. He added that he considers her the inevitable Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate in Arizona, and predicted she will win the general election if she continues to successfully court independent voters.
“She’s one of the most talented politicians we have running in the 2024 cycle,” Daines told The Daily Mail while speaking in his capacity as the chairman of the influential National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC). The outlet reported that Daines stressed Lake “will be the nominee,” and said the Republicans have become “friends.”
Daines’ commentary about Lake’s ability to secure the Republican nomination reflects recent polling that showed her with a 26-point lead over her closest opponent, Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb (R). However, the same polling showed Lake lagging with independent voters and suggested that Senator Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ) could pull enough Republicans and independent voters to hand the election to Representative Ruben Gallego (D-AZ-03).
Previous polling conducted by the NRSC found similar results, reportedly prompting Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) to stand and vocally call his Senate colleagues to support Lake’s candidacy during an NRSC meeting.
Daines told The Mail that Lake should continue courting independent voters.
“I think what Kari is doing and will need to continue to do is focus on the issues looking forward the issues independent voters care most about the high price of gas, high price of groceries out of control, southern border, the crime that’s running rampant, the weakness of the Biden administration,” Daines told the outlet.
Though he did not formally endorse Lake in his remarks, Daines predicted that if Lake “stays focused on the issues that voters care about going forward here, especially independent voters, she’s going to win that race in Arizona.”
Around the time reports surfaced indicating the NRSC would support Lake, she received the formal endorsement of Senator John Barrasso (R-WY), who is the Senate Republican Conference chair.
More recently, the NRSC launched a five-figure ad campaign labeling Gallego a “deadbeat dad,” citing his public divorce in 2016, and Sinema a “liberal Democrat” who works to enact the Biden administration’s agenda in the Senate.
In a statement, NRSC spokesman Tate Mitchell said Arizona Democrats “are fighting a lose-lose civil war over who they’ll make their standard bearer: Rotten Ruben Gallego or liberal rubber stamp Kyrsten Sinema,” and declared that “Arizonans deserve better.”
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Georgia Star News, The Virginia Star, and the Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Kari Lake” by Gage Skidmore. CC BY-SA 2.0.
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