US Senate race shifts with Lake in race
VIA SBINSIDER| October 18th, 2023
Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb, aspiring to become a US Senator, has a new competitor, Kari Lake. Lake, who spectacularly blew her chance to be Arizona’s Governor in 2022 by running a tone-deaf general election strategy, announced her Senate candidacy with a markedly different tune. In here previous Gubernatorial campaign, she squeaked by Karen Taylor-Robson by very adroitly courting the conservative base of the Republican Party and then utterly failed to pivot in the general election to try and capture the middle ground voter.
SBINSIDER has previously analyzed her miscues here.
This time around, she apparently has taken a page from the 1968 Richard Nixon campaign. In that race versus Humbert Humphrey, Nixon emerged as the “New Nixon” which the brilliant Roger Ailes (Fox News long-time boss) designed as a way to re-frame the image Nixon had from his 1960 narrow loss to JFK and then losing to Jerry Brown the elder in 1962, for Governor of California.
Lake, in the main, stayed away from the themes that propelled her to a primary victory, such as election fraud in 2020 and the pushing away of John McCain voters. She focused on the costs of inflation to the public, a wide open border and has softened on abortion as a national issue question. She has been courting the establishment side of the party, as evidenced by this statement from Senator John Barroso, R-Wyoming:
“Joe Biden’s policies have crushed Arizona. Arizonans are dealing with record inflation – up 20 percent under the Biden administration. Arizona is also on the front lines of the worst illegal immigration crisis in American history. Nearly 8 million illegal immigrants under Biden, equal to the population of Arizona,” Barrasso said. “The U.S. Senate needs a Senator from Arizona that understands these issues, and will fight hard to solve them.”
Sheriff Lamb for his part, was unmoved by the Lake announcement, making it clear he was in the race to stay and win. Blake Masters, who lost to Mark Kelly in the 2022 Senate race, made noises about running again but the reaction from the Republican voter base was a very loud, please, don’t’ bother.
According to a recent poll of SaddleBrooke Republicans, Sheriff Lamb topped Lake by a strong margin, 59% to 41%. Kathleen Dumbar remarked on the poll that many Republicans told her that Lake looks like she just wants to be elected to something, not committed to Arizona.
The race will be closely watched nationally as incumbent Senator Krysten Sinema has left the Democrat Party and may run as an independent. That opened the door for Congressman Ruben Gallego, the darling of the far left progressives, as the likely Democrat candidate.
