The problems keep piling up for Kari Lake

Kari Lake keeps losing in Arizona.

In addition to still being butthurt over her defeat by Democrat Katie Hobbs in the 2022 gubernatorial election, the drag-hating MAGA queen is now being outraised by her likely Democratic opponent in the 2024 U.S. Senate race.

Recently released figures show Lake, who announced her candidacy last October and is widely considered to be the frontrunner for her party’s nomination, raised $2.1 million in the fourth quarter of 2023.

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But pro-LGBTQ+ Representative Ruben Gallego, who is widely regarded as the frontrunner for the Democratic Party’s nomination, raked in over $1 million more than her. He brought in a cool $3.3 million last quarter, expanding his campaign warchest to an impressive $6.5 million.

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A post shared by Rep. Ruben Gallego (@reprubengallego)

Never one to be bogged down by facts or reality, Lake’s team tried to spin her less-than-impressive fundraising numbers as a positive thing, saying: “Kari Lake is out working everyone, posting a very strong fundraising haul for her first quarter in the race. Arizona is the best pick up opportunity for Senate Republicans, and Kari is well positioned to win in November.”

Again, she was outraised by more than $1 million by her likely Democratic opponent. That is the opposite of a “very strong fundraising haul.” And according to the polls, she’s fairly well positioned to win her primary in March, but a November victory looks much less likely. (More on that in a sec.)

Lake’s disappointing fundraising figures come at the same time she’s being sued by Stephen Richer, one of Maricopa County’s top elections officials, after she falsely accused him of tampering with the 2022 election results and cost her the governorship.

Specifically, Lake said Richer, who also happens to be a Republican BTW, “sabotaged” electronic ballot printers and inserting 300,000 fake ballots into the Maricopa County ballot count.

Related:

Kari Lake scrambles to get out of yet another self-inflicted legal mess, but the odds appear against her

Play dumb games, win dumb prizes.

Lake has tried to get the defamation lawsuit against her dismissed twice but has failed both times.

Last month, a judge has ruled her claims about Richer could be proved false to a jury and ordered the case to go to trial. Last week, her lawyers asked the Arizona Court of Appeals to intervene and dismiss the suit.

But considering she’s lost virtually every lawsuit and appeal surrounding the 2022 gubernatorial election so far, we’re guessing this one won’t be any different.

Now, back to the polls.

In a hypothetical matchup against Gallego, the vast majority of surveys find Lake losing to him by anywhere from 3 to 6 points. The one wild card in the equation is independent incumbent Senator Kyrsten Sinema.

Sinema, who was elected to represent Arizona in the U.S. Senate as a Democrat in November 2018, announced she was leaving the party to become an independent in December 2022, although she still caucuses with the Democrats for committee purposes.

The 47-year-old bisexual hasn’t announced whether she plans to run for re-election in 2024. If she were to throw her hat into the ring, it would create a rare three-way contest for a U.S. Senate seat that could ultimately chip away votes from Gallego and propel Lake to victory.

Of course, all that is still months away, and, if there’s anything we know about the current political climate, it’s that anything can and probably will happen.