Arizona Senate candidate Kari Lake has referred to Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ), who became an independent last year, a "chameleon" who almost always votes with President Joe Biden.
Lake announced her run for the Arizona Senate seat in the 2024 election, in which Sinema is the incumbent and faces both Lake, a Republican candidate, and Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), a Democratic one. In discussing the upcoming election, Lake criticized both candidates, claiming that both voted for Biden's policies numerous times and that Sinema is still a Democrat in all but name.
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"Kyrsten Sinema is the incumbent senator; she's now a chameleon acting like she’s not a Democrat anymore, acting like she’s an independent, but the fact of the matter is, you just look at their voting records," Lake told Sunday Morning Futures, referencing both Sinema and Gallego's voting records. "They’ve both voted with Biden almost 100% of the time. They’ve been in Congress for about two decades combined, and what do we have to show for it? Just higher gas prices, inflation is hitting Arizona the hardest of any place in the country."
Lake stated that voters need to "vote these people out" and that her upcoming race would be "a $300 million campaign" between her, Sinema, and Gallego. She also cited a poll that showed her winning the election against both Sinema and Gallego or between just her and Gallego.
Sinema has yet to officially announce if she will seek reelection in her seat, though a prospectus obtained by NBC News showed a glimpse of a possible campaign message: "Kyrsten's path to victory." In December, Sinema officially announced that she was leaving the Democratic Party and would register as an independent.
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Gallego, meanwhile, scored an endorsement earlier this month from Reproductive Freedom for All, formerly NARAL Pro-Choice America, a prominent abortion rights group. The endorsement comes as abortion has become a prominent issue for the 2024 elections after Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022.
Lake's entrance in the 2024 Arizona Senate race comes after she lost the state's gubernatorial election in 2022 to Gov. Katie Hobbs (D). While Lake has consistently denied the results of her election, she did not mention her gubernatorial race in announcing her run for Sinema's seat.