The road to the Trump White House winds through Arizona‚ and that means Kari Lake’s Senate bid is critical. The question for Republicans in the state is whether they’ll get on board with the Lake candidacy and help Donald Trump win the presidency and the GOP control of the Senate. READ MORE: Katie Hobbs’ Rocky Start in Arizona Kari Lake‚ who ran for governor of Arizona and was beaten by a mostly absent Katie Hobbs and lots of ballot shenanigans in the Republican-controlled Maricopa County‚ has enemies. Lake has been shunned by some McCain-loving and Trump-hating Arizona Republicans. In her first book‚ Unafraid‚ she writes of an embarrassing interaction with then-Gov. Doug Ducey‚ a meeting of 10 minutes that passed in silence. He’s not the only Arizona Republican who’d rather have a Democrat leader than Kari Lake. One wonders why. At a fundraiser in Palm Beach Florida last weekend‚ Lake listed some basic concerns. First‚ the border. This is an obvious place to start considering that the issue was central to Trump’s 2016 win and animates the Arizona citizenry — so much so that Democrat Katie Hobbs and the other senators in the race against Lake have been making noises about stopping the illegal immigration. In an interview following her remarks‚ Lake revealed that even the Democrats are being affected by the out-of-control border. Their poll numbers are suffering‚ so they’re taking a verbal hard line while committing to do little. The efforts of Gov. Greg Abbott in Texas to stop illegal immigration has put pressure on Arizona‚ Lake said‚ and Arizona is being overrun. The issue that got the most response at the fundraiser‚ though‚ was woke education. This issue fires up old and young alike. Lake talked about returning to schools to sanity at the local level. (READ MORE: Florida’s Parents Win the Newsom–DeSantis Debate) The issues for Republicans are easy this year: inflation‚ the border‚ woke‚ Ukraine and Israel‚ and the precarious state of the world generally. Kari Lake answers solidly on all the topics. How will she do in the three-way race‚ assuming Kyrsten Sinema runs for reelection? Right now‚ Lake is behind. She has work to do to win the bitter Never Trumpers‚ and she said she’s making phone calls one-by-one to win people over and build a broad base of support from across the spectrum. Her Democrat opponent‚ Ruben Gallego‚ is‚ she says a far leftist. Moderates in the state will have to move to Lake for her to win. Currently‚ Trump is up 5 points over Joe Biden in Arizona. His coattails could help Lake. Will GOP money people‚ aka the National Republican Senatorial Committee‚ give Lake money? Will the Republicans leave MAGA Republicans out in the cold again‚ just like they did the last cycle? Do they still prefer being the minority party? Another question is whether the structural electoral problems in Arizona are fixed. The answers from Lake were ambivalent at best. Republicans must overwhelm the corruption in the system‚ said Lake. Lake also said that she’s telling Republican voters to not send extra absentee ballots back but to hold them to prevent their being scooped up by USPS workers who might give them to Democrats to use fraudulently. Arizona is a must-get seat for the Senate and for the presidency. The Republicans in Arizona have a lot to do to unify in preparation for the election. In a state like Arizona‚ division is destructive — not just for its statewide politics but also for the nation. READ MORE from Melissa Mackenzie: Dumb Jury: The Trickle-Down Effect of No Rule of Law Stumbling Into World War III How Lindsey Graham Sabotaged the Pro-Life Movement Post Dobbs The post Kari Lake’s Bid to Raise Arizona appeared first on The American Spectator | USA News and Politics.