Is Kari Lake a Shoe-In For Arizona Senate Now That Kyrsten Sinema Pulls Out of the Race?

In a recent development concerning the 2024 Arizona race for Senator, Kyrsten Sinema has announced she will not be running for another term.

Sinema has served in the Senate beginning in 2018 when she was registered as a Democrat. She then changed her party affiliation to Independent in 2022.

The news comes as two other challengers in the race, Kari Lake and Ruben Gallego, are currently vying for Arizonan’s support.

A message for Arizonans from Senator Kyrsten Sinema pic.twitter.com/1XWFSWgGdh

— Kyrsten Sinema (@SenatorSinema) March 5, 2024

It has been theorized for some time now that she wouldn’t be throwing her hat in the ring for another term.

NBC News recently reported on Sinema’s abysmal polling for the race:

Sinema’s decision comes as her prospects of victory appeared dim if she ran. Polling on the race is sparse, but surveys have consistently shown Sinema in third place in a hypothetical three-way contest featuring Gallego and Lake. It was unclear which candidate she would have pulled more support from.

Notably, Sinema believed she was stronger with Arizona Republicans than with her former party. In a prospectus reported by NBC News last September, Sinema told donors her path to victory was to attract 10% to 20% of Democrats, 60% to 70% of independents and 25% to 35% of Republicans.

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So, which of the remaining candidates stands to benefit the most from this news?

People are sharing their thoughts on social media.

It’s funny to watch isn’t it, everybody crying

Kari Lake will win and WIN big

— Marjorie Taylor Greene Press Release (Parody) (@MTGrepp) March 5, 2024

One of them had to go if they had any chance at beating Lake. Kari should win easily as long as there is no cheating.

— StOrMyNiGhT (@Nautiguy48) March 5, 2024

Kyrsten Sinema Announces She will Not be Seeking Re-Election

The most important takeaway from this is that she was the main contender to Kari Lake in Arizona for Senator.

Kari Lake now looks like a shoe-in become the next senator. This has major implications.… pic.twitter.com/CYs6Jvkj51

— MJTruthUltra (@MJTruthUltra) March 5, 2024

And then, of course, some just took the opportunity on social media to crack some jokes about the outgoing senator’s wardrobe choices in the past.

BREAKING: Kyrsten Sinema announces she’s leaving the Senate to pursue her lifelong dream in Clown College. pic.twitter.com/8QT04WM4xh

— Hoodlum 🇺🇸 (@NotHoodlum) March 5, 2024

Color coordination is important. pic.twitter.com/x0zUZ774oc

— Hoodlum 🇺🇸 (@NotHoodlum) March 5, 2024

The New York Post has more on this story:

Sinema had been facing an April 1 deadline to file thousands of signatures in order to qualify for the ballot.

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Given her anemic fundraising numbers, there had been rampant speculation that she wouldn’t seek a second term.

For weeks, she had ducked questions about her future plans after filing paperwork to run for a second term in late 2022.

During President Biden’s first two years in office, Sinema was vaulted into the limelight due to her penchant for bucking party lines and tanking multiple big-ticket progressive wishlist items — including multi-trillion dollar iterations of the so-called Build Back Better agenda, drawing left-wing ire.