Republican Senate hopeful Kari Lake is behind her Democratic opponent in Arizona in a new poll by America’s most accurate pollster.
The new poll by The New York Times/Siena College shows 43 percent of respondents saying they would vote for Lake, while 49 percent say they would vote for Ruben Gallego. Eight percent of respondents said they did not know or refused to answer.
The poll surveyed 713 likely voters from September 17 to 21. Other polls conducted in recent weeks show Lake behind Gallego by fairly similar margins.
Newsweek has reached out to Lake’s campaign for comment via contact form on its website.
Lake and Gallego are competing to take the place of incumbent Senator Kyrsten Sinema, a former Democrat turned Independent, who is not seeking a second term.
Arizona is a battleground state that is considered crucial in determining control of the U.S. Senate, with both parties viewing it as essential to securing a majority.
Republicans are hoping to gain control of the Senate after falling short in the November 2022 midterm elections, when a widely anticipated “red wave” failed to materialize.
Currently, there are 51 Democratic senators, including Sinema, who still sides with the Democrats for committee purposes, compared with 49 Republicans.
Lake, a former television news anchor and Trump loyalist, was also her party’s candidate for Arizona governor in 2022, but lost the election.
Since her defeat, she has repeatedly claimed without evidence that the election was rigged. Her claims led to top Maricopa County election official Stephen Richer suing her in a defamation lawsuit.
Lake has conceded defeat in the lawsuit by asking the court to give a default judgment. The court is now determining what damages Lake owes.
Kari Lake speaks during a campaign rally for former President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump in Tucson, Arizona, on September 12, 2024. Polls show that she is trailing her Democratic opponent in the race for a Senate seat.
REBECCA NOBLE/AFP via Getty Images
In the Arizona Senate race, Gallego has positioned himself as a moderate Democrat with a military record, which has bolstered his appeal among independent voters.
Gallego is currently serving as a state representative for Arizona’s 3rd congressional district.
In August, the Arizona Police Association, the state’s biggest police association, said that it was endorsing Gallego, just days after it endorsed Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump at a Phoenix-area rally that Lake also appeared at.
Lake, meanwhile, has remained a fervent MAGA messenger who has focused much of her campaign on her hard-line immigration stances, which is a key issue for Republican voters in the state.
Trump recently nicknamed the Republican hopeful “Border Kari Lake” while speaking at a rally in Tucson, explaining that he chose the name because she is “tough on the border.”
