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Former Arizona Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake has poured cold water on a report that former President Donald Trump is “seriously” considering her to be his 2024 running mate.
“Former President Trump is strongly considering picking a female running mate — and sees Kari Lake as a model for his vice presidential pick, according to people who discussed the topic with him. Trump is already gaming out the general election in November 2024 — and knows he has a massive weakness with the white suburban women he would need to beat President Biden,” Axios reported.
“Lake, a former TV anchor who lost her race for Arizona governor in November, meets Trump’s most important qualification for a No. 2: She has shown she’s willing to defend him vociferously, no matter the issue or controversy. But Trump friends say Lake carries a big downside: He wants no risk that his running mate could outshine him. Lake would be assumed to be angling for president from the day she entered the White House. She made a political trip to Iowa last month,” the report added.
Steven Cheung, a Trump spokesperson, responded to the Axios report.
“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, and those who are playing the media game are doing so at their own peril,” Cheung said in a statement to Axios.
Lake’s team responded by pouring cold water on the idea.
“I am 100% dedicated to serving as Arizona Governor. I will also work to make sure President Trump gets back in the White House ASAP. Anything outside of those two goals is nothing but a distraction,” Lake told the Daily Mail.
Lake said, arguing that her “best days are ahead” as her election challenge to the Arizona gubernatorial outcome is headed to the state’s Supreme Court.
For his part, Trump spoke recently about his potential running mate as speculation mounts over who he may choose to be on his 2024 ticket if he wins the GOP nomination.
During an interview on “Just the News, No Noise” on Real America’s Voice, Trump said he was looking for a “respected,” “common sense” person to be his running mate.
“You’ve got to be smart, you’ve got to be respected, you’ve got to have a conservative voice and common sense. We’re not talking about conservative, we’re talking about common sense,” Trump said.
While Trump did not name anyone specifically in the interview, he did at least share some insight into the type of person he would be interested in.
WATCH:
According to a new report from the Washington Examiner, these four Republican women could be high on Trump’s shortlist: South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, New York Rep. Elise Stefanik, Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, and former Arizona journalist Kari Lake.
The Washington Examiner reported:
Sanders, the youngest governor in the United States and the longest-tenured press secretary in the Trump White House, flew up political draft boards after she delivered what Trump supporters agree was an “exceptionally strong” response to Biden’s State of the Union on Feb. 7.
Noem was elected as South Dakota’s first female governor in 2018 after spending more than a decade in the House of Representatives and has made a name for herself as a leading Republican lawmaker in the so-called “culture wars.”
Stefanik, the current chairwoman of the House GOP conference, was elected as a centrist Republican in 2015 but, after serving on the president’s defense team during his first impeachment, has shifted increasingly to the right. She frequently touts her strong ties to Trump and even endorsed his 2024 run days before he announced his candidacy.
Lake is perhaps the strangest potential pick and one many current and former Trump advisers hope he avoids. The former Phoenix-area news anchor lost her Trump-endorsed 2022 gubernatorial bid against Democrat Katie Hobbs, but she only further endeared herself to the former president by repeatedly claiming that widespread fraud occurred in the 2020 election.
One name not mentioned in the Washinton Examiner report is Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia. Her name has been floated in the media recently.
