After election trial loss, Kari Lake vows to fight on while keeping mum on Senate race

After losing her election challenge in state court, Arizona 2022 GOP gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake is vowing to continue her election reform efforts while keeping mum on the possibility of entering the 2024 U.S. Senate race in her state.

"U.S. Senate? Well, not today," she said Tuesday in an exchange with the audience at the announcement press conference.

She also said that announcing a Senate bid would "make a lot of the people here upset," most likely referring to some reporters. "So therefore, I must consider that, because that would make me happy."

Instead, Lake said, she is starting a "ballot chasing operation."

"We are officially launching the largest, most extensive ballot chasing operation in our state's history and frankly, possibly in American history," she said. "The courts just ruled that this corrupt election will stand. The courts just ruled that our elections can run lawlessly. The courts have ruled that anything goes. Well, we can play by those same rules."

While Lake, a former TV anchor, has exasperated some with her constant media presence trying to reverse an election she lost, at least some reporters are hoping she runs for Senate.

Lake could or would create a marquee race among her, Democrat Rep. Ruben Gallego, and incumbent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, a Democrat turned independent who has yet to say whether she'll seek reelection. 

Arizona was once a solid red state, but migration and other demographic changes have made it increasingly purple swing state.

Former President Donald Trump won Arizona in 2016 but was defeated there in 2020, a loss some considered pivotal in his defeat. 

"If, for some reason, we don't have the [court] ruling the people deserve, I'm truly considering a run for U.S. Senate," Lake said last month on a podcast. "There's a three-way race, and I just saw some polling ... that shows that no one can beat me in the Republican primary."

Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb has already announced his primary bid for the Sinema seat.

A poll released last month showed 38% of registered Arizona Republicans and undeclared voters said they would vote for Lake in the state primary.