Kari Lake took the stage before former President Donald Trump at his rally in Glendale, Arizona, in August, her face lucent and her short hair coiffed. It was her birthday. She pointed to the crowd size and said, “This is amazing.”
She didn’t mention abortion. She leveled character attacks at her Democratic opponent in the U.S. Senate race, Rep. Ruben Gallego, while painting him policy-wise as left of Bernie Sanders, left of the Squad, and, indelibly, Nancy Pelosi with a scruffy beard. She held onto the stage until a screen flashed, “please get off stage Trump waiting,” a shot of which Gallego amplified on X.
Her message to Arizona was one of unity: Vote Trump, vote Lake, vote Republican.
The speech showcased the recurring challenge of Lake’s campaign. First in her gubernatorial run, and now in her Senate campaign, she has attached herself to Trump on both policy and style, banking that it will win her the state.
But she isn’t getting as much support as Trump is, not even from diehard MAGA fans — and is trailing Gallego in the latest polls by upwards of 6 points.
Lake is “basically Donald Trump with all the negative [and] none of the positives,” said Arizona-based pollster Mike Noble, pointing out that while Trump can run on his perceived policy wins, Lake doesn’t have the same record of holding elected office.
Lake called some recent polls showing her significantly behind Gallego “absolute garbage” and said her internal polling shows her ahead of him.)