Republicans on Kari Lake: “Grifter” and “Sore Loser” Focused On “Grievances From The Past”

For Immediate Release
Thursday, October 5th, 2023
Contact: Olivia Taylor-Puckett, otpuckett@azdem.org
Republicans on Kari Lake: “Grifter” and “Sore Loser” Focused On “Grievances From The Past”

ARIZONA -– Ahead of Kari Lake’s nightmare campaign launch, Republicans continue to bite their nails over how her impending run for Senate will all but ensure they blow yet another Arizona Senate race.

After news broke last week that failed gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake will launch her campaign for Senate on October 10th, Republicans went on the record with warnings that a candidate Lake would hurt “Republicans’ chances of actually getting that seat back” while NRSC Chairman Steve Daines sent Lake an “ominous warning” and declined to say whether he would support Kari Lake.

“It’s simple: Kari Lake’s candidacy is a trainwreck for Arizona Republicans, and they know it,” said Olivia Taylor-Puckett, Senior Communications Advisor at the Arizona Democratic Party.

Republicans on their nightmare Senate candidate, Kari Lake:

Newsweek: Kari Lake Gets Ominous Warning From GOP Campaign Chief Before Senate Bid
RawStory: GOP could walk away from Arizona if Kari Lake joins Senate Race: report
CNN: How the Senate GOP’s campaign chief is navigating Trump and messy primaries. ‘“I think one thing we’ve learned from 2022 is voters do not want to hear about grievances from the past,’ Daines said. ‘They want to hear about what you’re going to do for the future […] think they’ll be a lot more successful particularly in their appeal to independent voters, which usually decide elections […] I think it’s just going to be important for her to look to the future and not so much the past.’[…] Daines declined to say how his committee would handle the Arizona primary,…”
RawStory: GOP warns Kari Lake against obsessing over ‘grievances of the past’. “But Sen. Steve Daines of Montana, who chairs the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), fears that if Lake becomes the nominee, she will alienate voters by obsessing over past elections.”
AZ Republic: Can Kari Lake win Arizona’s Senate race? ‘It’s a real question mark’. “…Republicans and other political observers bracing for an unavoidably bumpy ride for the GOP […] In a statement, Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., and NRSC chair, sidestepped the issue of helping Lake […] National Republicans remain skeptical of Lake’s candidacy because […] some wonder about how committed she would be to an Arizona Senate campaign […]‘If Kari Lake is the Republican nominee, there are definitely Republicans in D.C. that are not going to be motivated to help her.’”
Arizona Republic: “Former Yuma County GOP Chair Phil Townsend, who endorsed Lake in the 2022 election, doesn’t believe she can — nor that she deserves to. He […] feels that Lake has taken the party ‘in a direction that I’m not comfortable with.’ He’s particularly concerned with her incessant complaints about the 2022 election and how she’s used the issue to raise money. ‘I think she’s proven herself to be a grifter and a sore loser, and I’m not going to be able to support her in the primary,’ Townsend said.”
Arizona’s Family Politics Unplugged Podcast featuring Lorna Romero Ferguson: “[Kari Lake running] hurts Republicans, and Republicans’ chances of actually getting that seat back.”

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