Kari Lake 2.0: Ultra-MAGA wannabe lawmaker STOPS claiming 2020 election was stolen as she begins Senate campaign after disastrous Arizona governor's bid

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Arizona Republican Kari Lake, a far-right ally of Donald Trump, has finally stopped claiming the 2020 election was stolen as she turns her attention a senate run. 

On Tuesday she announced her candidacy for her party's U.S. Senate nomination at a splashy Scottsdale rally near Phoenix.

During a 50-minute speech declaring her run, she appeared to shift away from the central theme of her disastrous gubernatorial campaign last year.

Lake, a former television news anchor at a Fox network station in Phoenix, ran in 2022 for Arizona governor, losing to Democrat Katie Hobbs. She was lauded as a charismatic presence on the campaign trail, but was one of several candidates closely aligned with Trump who flopped at the ballot box. 

The Republican still has not officially conceded defeat in that race, following former President Trump's practice of claiming falsely that his 2020 presidential election loss was the result of widespread fraud.

Republican candidate Kari Lake announced her plans to run for the Arizona Senate seat during a rally on Tuesday in Scottsdale, Arizona

Kari Lake points to supporters as she announces her plans to run for the Arizona Senate seat 

At her rally, Lake didn't concede she lost the last election, but she also didn't say it was stolen and made only a brief mention of it during a nearly 50-minute-long speech. 

She said she's 'never going to walk away from the fight to restore honest elections. I'm never going to stop until every voter feels confident that their one legal vote counts.'

'We did everything right, and we saw the disaster of election day in Arizona,' Lake said. 'Sometimes when things don't go the way we expect, we find ourselves questioning and asking why ... I think God has bigger plans for us.'

During her speech earlier this week, Lake attempted to reach across party lines and shift focus from election fraud to more relatable concerns: gas prices and the current crisis at the border. 

'There is not a gas pump out there for Republicans, and one for Democrats, right?' Lake said. 'There's not an inflation rate for Republicans, and then a separate one for Democrats. All Arizonans are feeling the stress of Biden's reckless spending.' 

'When I'm back in the White House, I need strong fighters like Kari in the Senate,' Trump said during a recorded message

Lake announced her candidacy for her party's Senate nomination at a splashy Scottsdale rally near Phoenix

Speaking to the crowd, Lake said that she missed Trump's mean tweets while railing at the press declaring them to be 'fake news fools' and promising to 'stop the push toward communism' 

Lake is closely aligned with Trump, who so far leads the race for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. In the past she has glowingly referred to him as 'Superman.'

Speaking to the crowd, Lake said that she missed Trump's mean tweets while railing at the press declaring them to be 'fake news fools' and promising to 'stop the push toward communism.'

She played a recorded a video endorsement from Trump.

'When I'm back in the White House, I need strong fighters like Kari in the Senate,' Trump said.

Lake also offered conciliatory words for voters who disagree with her, a sharp contrast with her last campaign, when she didn't want support from establishment Republicans, even after she defeated them in the GOP primary.

'I may disagree with Arizonans who voted for Joe Biden,' Lake said. 'But I don´t think you're a threat to democracy. You are a citizen just like me.'

A former television news anchor for nearly three decades in the Phoenix market, Lake was already known locally but had no national profile when she walked away from her career in 2021, declared 'journalism is dead,' and took a sledgehammer to televisions showing cable newscasts. 

Former Arizona Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake greets supporters after announcing her bid for the seat of U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema 

Lake is closely aligned with Trump, who so far leads the race for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. In the past she has glowingly referred to him as 'Superman'

Right up to Election Day, she embraced Trump, appeared with right-wing figures like Steve Bannon and blasted establishment Republicans, including the late Sen. John McCain. She lost the governor's race by less than 1 point. 

About four in 10 Arizona voters in the 2022 election said they were 'very concerned' that Lake´s views were too extreme. But Lake became a national figure on the far right with her television appearances and her defense of Trump's election falsehoods. 

In the months since, Lake has traveled extensively to speak to Republican groups around the country, her remarks focused largely on her fraudulent election claims. Her frequent trips to Iowa, the state where she was born but also the host of the leadoff presidential caucuses, have raised eyebrows in political circles.

Some have floated her as a running mate for Trump, the front-runner for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination. 

Arizona's race could prove to be a highly competitive three-way general election race in November 2024.

During her speech earlier this week, Lake attempted to reach across party lines and shift focus from election fraud to more relatable concerns: gas prices and the current crisis at the border

Arizona is already one of the most politically competitive U.S. states but its Senate race became all the more so after Senator Kyrsten Sinema in December dropped her Democratic affiliation and declared herself to be an independent.

Sinema has not yet said if she will seek reelection but Democratic U.S. Representative Ruben Gallego, a liberal and former Marine with Iraq war combat experience, is making a bid for the Democratic nomination for that seat.

Arizona is one of eight competitive seats Democrats will be defending in 2024 as they try to protect their narrow 51-49 Senate majority. 

The state shares around 370 miles of its border with Mexico and immigration is sure to be one of the main topics in the Senate race. 

Some establishment Republicans have fretted that if she wins the nomination, Lake's fiery, hard-right, election-denier stances might not sit well with some of the state's voters.

'There is an invasion at the Arizona border RIGHT NOW. Kyrsten Sinema and Ruben Gallego repeatedly voted AGAINST funding the border wall. They have rubber-stamped this open borders agenda. Arizonans are sick of it,' Lake said on X, on Monday.

Lake joins a handful of aspiring Republican hopefulls including Mark Lamb, a sheriff in Pinal County, which is located between Phoenix and Tucson, and businessman Brian Wright