Thursday afternoon, The Washington Post published an email authored by Randy Kendrick, the wife of Diamondbacks owner Ken Kendrick and a board member of the Goldwater Institute. Sent to what the Post called Kendrick’s entire “Christmas card list,” the email urged her inner circle to support Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb over Lake in the Republican U.S. Senate primary.
The reason, according to Kendrick: Lake, the newscaster-turned-MAGA fanatic “cannot win the general election” against the likely Democratic nominee, U.S. Rep. Ruben Gallego.
“I have tried to help (Lake) and worked on this, and apparently cannot overcome it,” Kendrick wrote in the email, according to the Post. “There is no time for blame or analysis. These are just the facts.”
Lake is widely expected to cruise to a primary win when voting closes July 30. But Kendrick believes Lamb, whose profile among Republicans is much lower than Lake’s, might be a better candidate to go head-to-head with Gallego.
“I am trying to make more people aware of Lamb because, according to our polls, if people are made aware of him they prefer him over Lake and certainly over Gallego,” Kendrick wrote, per the Post. “Yes it is late, but I am trying!”
Lake campaign spokesperson Alex Nicoll did not respond to a request for comment from Phoenix New Times.
Randy Kendrick, a Goldwater Institute board member and wife of Arizona Diamondbacks owner Ken Kendrick, told friends in an email obtained by The Washington Post that she doubts Kari Lake can beat Ruben Gallego.
Gage Skidmore/Flickr/CC BY-SA 2.0
Lost cause?
Lake does seem to be fighting a losing battle against Gallego. The Democratic congressman has raised far more money than Lake has and is consistently outpolling her. In April, The Washington Post reported that Trump had ruled out Lake as a vice president candidate due to her loss in Arizona's 2022 gubernatorial election and that GOP strategists doubted her chances against Gallego in the Senate race.But Kendrick hasn't backed off Lake because of her far-right politics. Though the Kendricks once backed an anti-Trump political action committee, they are no strangers to the extremist fringes of the Republican party. Rep. Andy Biggs, Secretary of State candidate Mark Finchem, and state Sens. Anthony Kern and Wendy Rogers all have received donations from the Kendricks, though Trump notably has not. Ken Kendrick also donated to a PAC that produced racist attack ads in 2022.
The Kendricks also have mobilized against Lake before. In the 2022 primary, they donated to political action committees that took on Lake during her run for governor. Lake won the primary but ultimately lost to Gov. Katie Hobbs, though Lake has had a hard time admitting it.
With polls closing in five days, Kendrick and Lake may be stuck with each other. In an interview with the Post, Kendrick said she’d back Lake after the primary and hope for the best.
“If (Lake) wins the primary election,” Kendrick said, “I’ll support her in the general against Ruben Gallego.”
