'Voters don't want you': Arizona GOP reportedly cheers as Kari Lake heads to Washington
The selection of two-time failed Arizona candidate Kari Lake to lead Voice of America in President-elect Donald Trump’s new administration came as welcome news in MAGA world – and is also reportedly being applauded by some Republicans in her own home state – albeit for a different reason.
Lake, a former TV news anchor turned staunch Trump loyalist, has dominated Republican politics in Arizona, but has lost two statewide bids in the past four years. And her back-to-back electoral losing streak and unique brand of MAGA, election-denying politics has fueled skepticism from other conservatives in the state, POLITICO reported.
“She’s no longer Arizona’s problem. Now, she’s the world’s problem,” Arizona-based GOP strategist Barrett Marson told the publication.
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Lake had been considered by some as a possible candidate for state Republican Party chair or Arizona secretary of state, according to Politico. It added that “multiple Republican political operatives” in Arizona said if Lake had made the decision to jump into the party chair race, the social media savvy, MAGA favorite likely would have emerged a winner.
But her elevation to the federally-funding broadcasting agency in Trump’s next administration opens up the field for other Republicans.
“When you’re a two-time loser and you did worse the second time around, that’s a clue that maybe the voters don’t want you,” Marson told Politico. “I think it clears space for the conservative but normal wing of the Republican Party in Arizona.”
Lake said Wednesday that she was “honored” to be selected to lead VOA, and added that under her leadership, the media agency will “excel in its mission: chronicling America’s achievements worldwide.”