PHOENIX — Kari Lake won the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate in Arizona on Tuesday, setting up a fierce battle against Democratic U.S. Rep. Ruben Gallego for a seat that could be crucial to deciding Senate control.
Lake defeated Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb, who had contended that he was more electable and the best candidate to secure the border. But he ultimately struggled to raise the money needed to make his case to voters. Through the end of June, Lake had raised $10.3 million compared with Lamb’s $2 million.
Gallego is running unopposed in the Democratic primary for Senate.
The once-crowded field of Republicans looking at the Senate race thinned out when Lake, who built a national profile in former President Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” movement in an unsuccessful 2022 bid for Arizona governor, made clear she planned to run for the seat.
Lake entered politics after leaving the news anchor desk at the Phoenix Fox affiliate and quickly became a rising star on the right. Grassroots Republicans were drawn to her biting critiques of her former colleagues in the news media, her tough talk on border security and her unwavering support for Trump, who for a time considered her for his 2024 running mate.
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