Arizona GOP Senate candidate is getting outgunned—and she's not alone

Among Senate Republicans' top targets this cycle, Arizona initially looked promising. While Senate Democrats are defending seats in even tougher territory such as Ohio and Montana, Sen. Kyrsten Sinema’s retirement in Arizona left Democrats fighting to protect a seat no longer anchored by a Democratic incumbent.

But election denier and MAGA diehard Kari Lake, the likely GOP nominee, is upending Senate Republicans' calculus in the state. Arizona Republicans are privately wincing at Lake's chances, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell recently declined to name Arizona as a seat they are focused on flipping.

Lake's likely Democratic challenger, Rep. Ruben Gallego, is currently lapping her in fundraising while Senate Democrats are also roundly outgunning their GOP counterparts.

The Democrats' Senate Majority PAC has reserved $23 million in ad buys for the fall, according to Politico, while Senate Republicans are still holding their fire. 

And Gallego, who has already spent $7.9 million in advertising, ended March with $9.6 million in cash on hand. Lake has spent just $170,000 in advertising to date, with $2.5 million on hand.

As they say, don't spend it all in one place, Kari.

But amid all the GOP doomsayers, one Senate Republican voiced a refreshingly contrarian view of Lake's apparent collapse.