MAGA darling Kari Lake failed to secure a victory in her second bid for public office in Arizona, despite Donald Trump winning the swing state.
The race was called for Democrat Ruben Gallego, an Arizona congressman, on Monday after Trump officially flipped the state two days earlier to sweep all seven swing states in the 2024 presidential election.
In addition to a remarkable win to take back the White House, Republicans also flipped the Senate red and the party is well on the way to retaining its majority in the House.
But Lake wasn’t able to add to the new GOP Senate majority as she tried to capture the open U.S. Senate seat of outgoing Independent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, who caucused with Democrats.
She faced a tough opponent in Rep. Gallego (D-Ariz.) whose victory was crucial for Democrats who lost their majority in the Senate and were hoping not to let Republicans widen the gap even further.
The former television news anchor lost a good bit of her pro-MAGA political momentum after she was defeated in the 2022 Arizona gubernatorial election against Katie Hobbs.
Kari Lake lost her bid to represent Arizona in the U.S. Senate
And even before Election Day, Lake was consistently falling behind Gallego in nearly every reputable poll.
Lake, a fierce MAGA darling and pro-Trump voice in Arizona, often appeared alongside him in the 2022 election cycle and helped push his false claims that the 2020 election was stolen. She slammed Democratic leadership in Arizona, spuriously claiming it allowed the election to be ‘stolen’ for Joe Biden.
This cycle, Trump campaigned with Lake and had fully endorsed her in the Senate race – even when she was running in a primary against Mark Lamb, whom she defeated by 15.7 percent.
Lake is also a staunch border hawk and joined the growing chorus of voices claiming the southern migrant crisis is the largest issue facing the country.
Arizona, one of the three southern land-border states, is one of the areas hit hardest by the flow of illegal immigrants surging over the division between the U.S. and Mexico.
In the 2022 gubernatorial race, Lake lost to Hobbs by only 0.7 percent, making it one of the closest races in the midterm cycle.
Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) clinched victory on Tuesday night to replace outgoing independent Sen. Krysten Sinema in the upper chamber
Trump and Lake embrace and share a cheek kiss as they campaign together at a rally in Prescott Valley, Arizona on October 13, 2024
Lake began her media career in the early 1990s and was an anchor for Phoenix television station KSAZ-TV from 1999 to 2021 – stepping down shortly before announcing her gubernatorial bid.
She easily won the GOP nomination with the backing of former President Trump.
But her campaign was mired by controversy, including her promoting false claims that Trump won the 2020 presidential election and calling for the imprisonment of those who accepted his defeat.
Lake’s candidacy for office first gained controversy in the 2022 election for governor after she emerged as an early and vociferous opponent of the 2020 presidential election results
Sinema’s Arizona Senate seat was up for grabs after she decided not to run for reelection following her single term there and three terms in the House.
She was first elected as a Democrat, but in December 2022 refiled as an independent, which contributed to a slimming Democratic majority in the upper chamber.
Gallego will now join fellow Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly in the Arizona delegation to the U.S. Senate.
This article was originally published by a www.dailymail.co.uk . Read the Original article here. .