Kari Lake loses Arizona Senate race to Ruben Gallego

Former local Fox broadcaster Kari Lake was unsuccessful in her bid to take a Senate seat in Arizona, losing to Democrat Ruben Gallego. The Associated Press, NBC and CNN called the race for Gallego Monday after another drop of Maricopa County votes that were heavily Democratic, the Arizona Republic reported.

Gallego, who will be the first Latino senator in his state, won with just over 50 percent of the vote after a bitter campaign with accusations from the office of current and retiring Sen. Kristen Sinema (I-AZ) that Gallego has intense personal animosity towards Lake, who had previously run for governor in Arizona in 2022 and lost.

Gallego, 44, posted a victory message on X that read: "Gracias, Arizona!" His victory means the Republicans will have a 53-47 advantage in the Senate. Lake has not yet conceded.

"And so what it means to me is that I finally get to return the favor to a lot of the people that were the role models to me growing up, that I did not have," Gallego said, according to the Arizona Republic. "And I did not have a father growing up. And my father luckily left fairly early ... And so I relied on a lot of people that were my male role models to actually show me what it meant to be a good man and a moral man.

"And I feel like at least now there is going to be an opportunity that some young kids are going to be able to say, like, I can do that. Not necessarily run for Senate, but I can just go to college. I can go get a career. I can leave poverty."

Lake did not officially concede her gubernatorial loss and has remained a popular figure within the Republican Party. She spoke at the Republican National Convention. Trump won the battleground state of Arizona on his way to victory on Nov. 5.