Arizona GOP candidate Kari Lake responded to reports claiming that she is atop the list of possible running mates being considered by former President Donald Trump, coming after she won a Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) poll over the past weekend.
Currently, Lake’s midterm election-related lawsuit is scheduled to be considered by the Arizona Supreme Court in the coming weeks. Lake has alleged that problems that occurred at polling locations in Maricopa County on Nov. 8 were so egregious that the election should be re-done or she be declared the winner.
Lake added that “anything outside of those two goals is nothing but a distraction” and again claimed she won the gubernatorial election. Her opponent, Democrat Katie Hobbs, was sworn in as governor in early January.
Two lower courts in Arizona have dismissed her election challenge. In both rulings, judges argued that Lake did not provide enough evidence to show that Republican voters were suppressed on Election Day.
Over the weekend, a CPAC vice presidential straw poll found that Lake, a former television journalist, came in No. 1 with 20 percent of the vote. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was second and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who announced a 2024 presidential bid last month, was third.
“Our best days are ahead of us and it all starts with electing America-First candidates all across this country,” Lake also told the Mail.
Others who are reportedly being considered include Haley, Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, and South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, according to the Axios report. The former president has not publicly commented on the Axios report, which cited “some close to Trump.”
But a campaign spokesman, Steven Cheung, dismissed claims in the Axios article and said that “anyone who thinks they know what President Trump is going to do is seriously misinformed and trying to curry favor with ‘potential’ V.P. candidates.”
“President Trump will choose his running mate on his own time,” Cheung said, “and those who are playing the media game are doing so at their own peril.”
Earlier this year, Steve Bannon, a former White House aide and 2016 Trump campaign manager, told NBC News that he believes Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) is angling to be Trump’s running mate in 2024. Greene has not publicly responded to the claims.
“This is no shrinking violet. She’s ambitious—she’s not shy about that, nor should she be,” he said in late January. “She sees herself on the short list for Trump’s VP. Paraphrasing Cokie Roberts, when MTG looks in the mirror she sees a potential president smiling back,” Bannon continued to say.
And Trump’s former vice president, Mike Pence, did not appear at CPAC over the weekend. In recent months, Pence has ramped up his media appearances and commented on a wide range of political hot-button topics, triggering speculation that he would run for president in 2024.
“The American people love competition,” Pence told Fox News. “And it’s a free country. Everyone is entitled to vie for offices in this country of their choosing ... I do believe that different times call for different leadership.”
During CPAC, Trump easily won the group’s presidential straw poll, beating out DeSantis—the No. 2—by about 40 percentage points. Trump got 62 percent, DeSantis got 20, and businessman Perry Johnson got 5 percent.
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