Kari Lake Gets Good News in Arizona Poll

Arizona Republican Kari Lake received good news in her campaign for the state’s open Senate seat, according to a new poll commissioned by the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC).
An internal poll of 800 likely voters, conducted by Peak Insights from July 31 to August 5 and shared exclusively with National Journal’s hotline, shows the race for independent Senator Kyrsten Sinema’s seat is deadlocked. Sinema announced in March that she is not running for reelection, leaving the seat open.
The poll shows Lake and Democratic Representative Ruben Gallego tied at 46 percent, with 8 percent undecided. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
The poll brought positive news for Lake, the Republican candidate endorsed by former President Donald Trump, who has mainly been trailing Gallego in public polls. Poll aggregators, including The Hill and RealClearPolitics, show Gallego ahead by 5.8 percent and 4.4 percent, respectively.
The Senate is currently controlled by the Democrats, who hold 51 seats, including four independents who caucus with the party, while Republicans hold 49. November’s election could change control of the chamber.
In response to the poll, a spokesperson for Lake told Newsweek in an email Thursday: “Kari Lake is talking about the issues that matter to Arizonans: securing the border and lowering prices. Ruben Gallego supports Kamala Harris and her open border policies 100 percent of the time.”
The campaign also released a public statement, saying: “Ruben Gallego is a Far Left progressive just like [Vice President] Kamala Harris. They both support open borders and all the bad Biden policies that decimated our economy and made life unaffordable for Arizonans. Donald Trump and Kari Lake will secure the border and get the economy back on track. Arizonans know this.”
Newsweek reached out to Gallego’s press team for comment via email on Thursday.
Harris has been leading the Democratic ticket against former President Donald Trump since July 21, when President Joe Biden exited the presidential race and endorsed her.
In 2022, Lake ran unsuccessfully for governor of Arizona, losing the by more than 17,000 votes. She refused to acknowledge her loss and has been involved in several court challenges. She is a vocal supporter of Trump’s false claims that the 2020 election was stolen, despite no evidence of widespread voter fraud.
Earlier this month, Gallego, a former Marine who served in Iraq, launched “Republicans and Independents for Ruben,” a coalition of 40 Arizona Republicans and independents—which include current and former elected officials as well as industry experts, business owners and community leaders—who have endorsed him.
Lake won the Republican nomination in late July, beating Sheriff Mark Lamb, with over 55 percent of the vote. Gallego ran unopposed.