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Conciliatory messages on social media. Open the coffee invitation. Zoom will ask participants to come down.
Kali Lake, a Republican and favorite of former President Donald J. Trump, has been on a peacemaking mission since before she announced her candidacy for the Arizona Senate. Her failure to run for governor two years ago was due to her enthusiastic support of Trump’s false claims that the election was stolen from her, and the party establishment figures who criticized her for fraud. It was characterized by its ruthless attacks on But now Lake is trying to win seats from Democrats in key presidential battlegrounds and mend her fences by courting her former opponents.
In addition to his public overtures, Lake has privately reached out to establishment Republicans in the state in recent months, including some he has personally offended, asking for support. The list also includes former governors Doug Ducey and Jan Brewer. Karyn Taylor-Robson and former MP Matt Salmon, two of his main rivals in 2022. They include Meghan McCain, the daughter of longtime Arizona Sen. John McCain, according to six people familiar with the effort, some of whom requested anonymity to discuss private interactions. He claimed that. One of the people said Lake has expressed remorse for his past actions in some cases.
“There was some damage done in the primary, and that obviously affected the general election,” said Daniel Scarpinato, an Arizona Republican consultant who served as a top aide to Mr. Ducey several years ago. “I think you can clearly see a real effort to bring more Republicans into the fold.”
Lake, a former TV anchor and political newcomer in 2022, used a scorched-earth strategy to win the Republican gubernatorial primary. She appealed to Trump’s supporters and hurt her opponents by defending his baseless theories of election fraud. She accused Robson of “trying to buy the election with her 95-year-old husband’s millions of dollars” and slammed Ducey as “Do-Nothing Ducey.”
Perhaps most critically, she declared that her political rise had “driven a stake into the heart of the McCain institution” and called on voters in the state who admired McCain to “get behind McCain.” This angered the family of McCain, who died in 2018. Jeez. ” The disagreement made some Republicans reluctant to support Lake, even if it meant a Democrat would win.
She now claims the insults against Mr McCain were meant as a “joke”.
“Things are going to get even worse under Joe Biden, and we’re at a point where we don’t have time to let past discussions get in the way of moving forward as a country,” Lake said in an interview in Phoenix. last month. She described herself as “someone who likes talking to people and bringing people together.”
If Lake wins the primary, he is expected to face a close race against U.S. Rep. Ruben Gallego, who is running virtually unopposed for the Democratic nomination. Lake’s primary opponent is Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb, who has a wide lead in opinion polls ahead of the July 30 election. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, a former Democrat who left the party in 2022, is not running. For re-election.
Some early signs suggest her efforts are bearing fruit, at least on a national level. The National Republican Senatorial Committee, which works to elect Republicans to the Senate, has endorsed her, and Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming, the third-ranking member of the Senate’s Republican leadership, campaigned with her in Phoenix last month. She met with Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, a longtime Republican leader, at the Capitol on Wednesday and then attended a fundraiser with about 20 senators in Washington.
Former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich also supported Lake, calling his approach “mature” in an interview.
Still, her success appears to have been mixed domestically, with several of her offers rejected. Last month, Lake sent X a public message comparing McCain to a “mad dog” and inviting her to lunch. McCain responded with a vulgar comment: “There will be no peace.”
“It’s a wound that will never heal for me and my family because people like Kali Lake and Trump continue to degrade my family and my father,” McCain said in an interview. “What she wants me to do is cover up her horrible comments and her horrible statements about my family. I would rather die than do that.”
Mr. Ducey is not expected to endorse in the Republican primary, according to a person familiar with his plans. The pair’s advisers said recent conversations between Lake and Robson were fruitful, but nothing was decided.
By her own account, Lake’s peacemaking efforts included meeting skeptical Republicans in her office, taking them out for coffee or drinks, and making phone calls. That’s what it means. She said in an interview at the Conservative Political Action Conference near Washington last month that some of the conversations were difficult, and Lake said that sometimes the heated phone calls and Zoom calls started with anger from her counterpart. explained. She also hosted Zoom meetings with Republican donors and consultants as a favor and attended a luncheon last month with members of the Arizona Chamber of Commerce.
“I want to continue to extend an olive branch. If someone rejects it and says, ‘No, I’m not interested,’ that’s fine,” she said in an interview in Phoenix. . “The olive branch is still out. My door is still open.”
But Mr. Lake has also raised new concerns among some grassroots Republicans, many of whom are vocal supporters of Mr. Trump. Many people were disappointed when Lake’s secretly recorded audio recording of his conversation with Arizona Republican Party Chairman Jeff DeWitt last year was released in January. At that time, Mr. DeWitt appeared to offer a bribe to persuade Mr. Lake that she would not run for the Senate. In the recording, which DeWitt said was “selectively edited,” Lake can be heard denying DeWitt’s request.
Mr. DeWitt resigned shortly after the recording surfaced, and Mr. Lake framed the episode as an example of his independence. Some State Party members reacted angrily, raising concerns about other private conversations Lake may have recorded. Lake was booed at a meeting to elect a new chairman.
“Is that really what all of us should be doing, even if we’re Republicans? To tape people who trust you?” said Gene Kench, Mohave County Republican Party Chair. Asked. “I love Cali, don’t get me wrong. But I think that’s what people are concerned about.”
Lake denies that he regularly records private conversations. Still, Lam, who lags far behind her in fundraising, sees an opportunity for her. Ed Morabito, a senior adviser to his campaign, said Lamb is the only candidate who “appeals to all Republicans, conservative independents and disaffected Democrats.”
Despite his renewed desire for party unity, Mr. Lake has not shied away from his extreme views, continuing to push baseless theories of voter fraud in news media appearances and telling reporters in Washington last week that “Arizona is really There was a fraudulent election.” (After losing her case to Mr. Hobbs, Ms. Lake falsely claimed fraud and filed a futile lawsuit to overturn the result.) Sympathized with those convicted of related crimes and appeared with them. Storming the Capitol.
But she has not made these positions a centerpiece of her Senate campaign, one of the few departures from her gubernatorial campaign. She now opposes a federal ban on abortion, which she once called “the ultimate sin.”
“Kari Lake will say and do anything to gain power,” Gallego’s spokeswoman, Hannah Goss, said in a statement.
And for some Republicans, the scars left by Lake may run too deep. Sharon Harper, CEO of the real estate company Plaza Companies, who is close to McCain, endorsed Hobbs in 2022, but has no plans to support Lake in this campaign.
“I think people understand who Kali Lake is,” Harper said. “We’ve seen what she has proven, and I don’t think if someone said, ‘I didn’t mean it,’ that wouldn’t change their opinion.”
Michael C. Bender and guo keira Contributed to the report.
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