Trump endorses Lake in Arizona Senate race

Former President Trump endorsed Kari Lake, an ardent supporter of his, in the Arizona Senate race Tuesday evening. 

“When I’m back in the White House, I need strong fighters like Kari in the Senate. She is a fighter. She’s strong and she’s good. She’s got a great heart by the way,” Trump said in a video posted on his Truth Social platform.

“I will need a majority in the House and in the Senate. We have to have a big strong majority to help me push our America-first agenda through and to push it through really fast. That starts right here tonight by helping Kari Lake win in Arizona, and she will win too,” he added.

Lake officially announced Tuesday that she is running for Sen. Kyrsten Sinema’s (I-Ariz.) seat next fall after filing paperwork last week. Her entry was widely expected, and Republicans say she’s seen as the heavy favorite to win the GOP primary against Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb. 

Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) is running on the Democratic side, while Sinema has largely stayed mum about her reelection plans. NBC News reported last month that her political team was circulating a prospectus that outlined the shares of Republicans, Democrats and independents her team believed could create a coalition for a pathway to reelection. 

Still, polling in the race has suggested Sinema would have a tough climb. A poll released Tuesday from left-leaning firm Public Policy Polling, which was commissioned by Rep. Ruben Gallego’s (D-Ariz.) campaign and first shared with The Hill, found Gallego at 41 percent, Lake at 36 percent and Sinema at 15 percent in a hypothetical three-way match-up.

But a separate poll from Republican firm National Research Inc. showed Lake leading Gallego 37 percent to 33 percent, while Sinema sat at 19 percent.