A U.S. senator from Tennessee on Friday endorsed Kari Lake, who is running for U.S. Senate in Arizona.
“I’m honored to endorse my friend Kari Lake to be Arizona’s next U.S. Senator. Kari is a strong, principled conservative, who knows and loves the people of Arizona and will make them proud as their elected representative,” Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN) said in statement. “Kari is fearless, she doesn’t back down, and she will fight tirelessly to secure our border and make our country safe and prosperous. The stakes could not be higher and it is now more important than ever that we retake the Republican majority and get our country back on the right track for all working American families and citizens.”
Lake thanked Hagerty for his vote of confidence.
“I am thrilled to have the endorsement of a conservative force in the Senate, my friend Bill Hagerty,” she said. “He has been a strong voice for securing our border and advocating for America First policies. I look forward to working with him to put America back on track.”
Lake is running against Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ).
The former gubernatorial candidate is a firebrand in the Republican Party.
She is closely tied to former President Donald J. Trump, who endorsed her 2022 gubernatorial campaign. In her current run for U.S. Senate, she has been endorsed by former presidential candidate and Trump ally Vivek Ramaswamy.
Lake has recently been in the news after now-former Arizona GOP Chairman Jeff DeWit appeared to attempt to bribe her to stop her from running for office.
“So the ask I got today from back East was, ‘Is there any companies out there or something that could just put her on the payroll to keep her out?’” DeWit said in a phone call to Lake, which she later said she recorded herself.
DeWit resigned from his post, and Lake slammed him over the ordeal.
“I think this is a delusional person talking, sadly,” she said. “In his resignation, there was no acknowledgement of wrongdoing that he screwed up, that he shouldn’t have done that, that it was wrong and unethical. And there was no apology to the Arizona Republicans. It’s good that he’s gone.”
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Pete D’Abrosca is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Pete on X / Twitter.
Photo “Kari Lake” by The Kari Lake.