PHOENIX — A poll done for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, and first reported by Punchbowl News, says Republican Kari Lake is running second to Democrat Ruben Gallego in the race for Arizona's U.S. Senate seat.
The incumbent, Senator Kyrsten Sinema, is currently running 3rd. But the poll shows Sinema is taking Republican voters away from Lake.
In an interview, Lake talked about policy and politics. Three weeks into her campaign for U.S. Senate Kari Lake makes it clear that first and foremost she is an America First candidate. "We have a movement that never died from our governor's race, it has grown stronger actually, It's national now and people are very supportive of me as an America first candidate."
ABC15 has reached out to each of the official candidates for the AZ Senate race for interviews. The full interviews will be posted on ABC15 streaming apps and abc15.com.
Watch the full ABC15 interview with Kari Lake in the player below.
Lake says she is opposing Joe Biden as much as she is running against Senator Sinema, who has yet to formally announce her re-election bid, and Congressman Gallego. Both of whom she says have rubberstamped nearly all of the Biden agenda. Although Sinema opposed ending the filibuster in the Senate and has occasionally been at odds with the President on his border policy.
As for Lake's platform, it is Donald Trump's platform.
Regarding the border, Lake wants to build the entire border wall, pass tougher asylum laws and hire more immigration judges to speed up the processing of migrants.
"Both Ruben Gallego and Kyrsten Sinema have voted against funding the border wall time and time again. They voted against anything that would keep this invasion of our border from being invaded. That's a problem," Lake said.
During her time in the Senate, Sinema secured over a billion dollars in aid for migrants, border communities and U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The Senator has been a frequent critic of the Biden Administration's failure to adequately respond to the border crisis.
On the economy, Lake wants to resume the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline which connects shale oil deposits in Canada with refineries in Texas. She sees it as a win for the economy, a way to lower inflation by bringing energy costs down as well as eliminating a reliance on Middle East oil.
"We can't keep pushing this green agenda that is actually destroying our jobs and our economy," Lake said.
Lake is solidly behind Israel and its war against Hamas. "Israel has the absolute right to protect its citizens," she says. But she is critical of the Biden Administration's decision to release $6 billion to Iran for humanitarian purposes as part of a prisoner swap deal. The U.S. and Qatari governments have agreed to block Iran from accessing any of the money. However, there is no timeframe for how long the agreement between Qatar and the U.S. will remain in place.
Lake opposes giving any more money to Ukraine, arguing the Biden Administration should be leading peace talks with Ukraine and Russia to end the conflict.
Her view is in contrast to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell who sees aid to Ukraine, along with money for Israel, Taiwan and the U.S. Southwest border as essential.
"Lately it seemed like a lot of these lawmakers appear to be representing the people of Ukraine and giving the middle finger frankly to the people of America." Later Lake would say, "There's not a lot of money in place, but the war machine makes not billions but trillions on war." Raytheon, which builds integrated air and missile defense systems. Some being used in Ukraine and Israel, employs 12,000 workers at its Tucson facilities.
Lake says she learned a lot about herself running for Governor.
It made her tougher, she said. But don't expect a concession or acknowledgment she lost the 2022 Governor's race to Katie Hobbs. When I asked how she felt about the election attorneys working for former President Donald Trump who pleaded guilty in the criminal case involving the attempts to overturn the Georgia election in 2022, Lake said, "In a way, I understand because what I see happening is the weaponization of our government against anybody who speaks out asks questions and is concerned about elections."
Lake says she will continue with her three court cases involving the 2022 governor's election. "I don't know if at the end of the day we'll win those cases, but I want to see them through and I have the right to do that."
