Kari Lake has been consigned to the locker room as the Arizona Republican Party promotes ‘Team Unity’ in its latest billboard campaign. It’s easy to understand why.
Former President Donald Trump speaks to supporters in Tucson
Senate candidate Kari Lake, former President Donald Trump and Arizona Republican Party Chair Gina Swoboda spoke to a crowd gathered in Tucson.
The Arizona Republican Party has commissioned a new billboard.
No longer are party leaders telling us to “EAT LESS KITTENS – Vote Republican” — a plea that slaughtered both the rules of good grammar and of good form, amplifying, as it did, Donald Trump’s and JD Vance’s false claims that hordes of Haitian immigrants are eating pets in Springfield, Ohio.
Now, the party’s brain trust has moved on to a message of unity in billboards that were put up across the Valley last week.
“Team Unity,” proclaims the new billboards, featuring Trump, Vance and four other key Trump supporters.
“This billboard embodies the spirit of unity that our nation desperately needs,” state Republican Party Chairwoman Gina Swoboda said, in announcing the campaign. “The Trump-Vance ticket represents a powerful coalition of voices that will fight for America.”
A coalition that apparently excludes the party’s nominee for the U.S. Senate?
Where’s Kari Lake on those billboards?
When it comes to Team Unity, Kari Lake was left in the locker room.
Instead, Trump and Vance are pictured with Elon Musk, Vivek Ramaswamy, Tulsi Gabbard and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
It’s almost as if Arizona’s Republican Party has written off Arizona’s U.S. Senate race.
In a way, that would be understandable. Early voting begins on Oct. 9, and Lake’s a drag on the ticket.
A New York Times/Siena College poll of likely voters released on Monday shows Trump up five points over Kamala Harris in this battleground state, 50% to 45%.
That same poll has Ruben Gallego up six points over Lake, 49% to 43%.
Gallego is leading strongly with many voters
Gallego is killing it with voters 44 and under, college graduates and voters of color.
Lake is strongest with older voters. She also leads with white voters and those who didn’t graduate from college, though the numbers there are within the poll’s 4.4% margin of error.
Gallego leads in the cities and suburbs. Lake rules in rural Arizona.
Lake wants to turn: Your Cardinals game into a MAGA rally
Gallego leads strongly with women. Lake has a slight edge with men though, again, within poll’s margin of error.
And this one’s going to leave a mark: 9% of Republicans surveyed said they plan to vote for Gallego. Just 1% of Democrats said they’d vote for Lake. Independents polled broke for Gallego, 50% to 40%.
No wonder the Republican Party snubbed Lake
The numbers are no surprise, which probably explains the Arizona Republican Party’s snub of their own Senate nominee.
Lake has consistently trailed Gallego in virtually every poll this year, and with just 16 days until early ballots are mailed out, it’s difficult to see how she changes that.
Moderate voters — the ones who in recent years have handed both Senate seats and every key statewide office to Democrats — just don’t like her.
U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly. Gov. Katie Hobbs and possibly coming soon to a Senate seat near you, Ruben Gallego?
One wonders how many more elections it will take before Republicans decide they want to win again?
Reach Roberts at laurie.roberts@arizonarepublic.com. Follow her on X (formerly Twitter) at @LaurieRobertsaz and on Threads at @LaurieRobertsaz.
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Publish date : 2024-09-23 07:58:00
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