At the recent Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), Kari Lake won the straw poll to determine who should be Donald Trump's 2024 running mate, but it seems she isn't interested in the position — for a very on-brand reason.
The election-denying former Arizona gubernatorial candidate took 20% of the votes in a poll with 28 candidates, indicating some serious enthusiasm for Lake as a potential running mate for Trump among CPAC participants.
Lake doesn't seem to share that enthusiasm, though.
Lake's campaign Twitter account tweeted the most on-brand response to the poll: that Lake can't be Vice President when she's...{checks notes}...already Governor.
Who wants to tell her?
"We’re flattered, but unfortunately our legal team says the Constitution won’t allow for her to serve as Governor and VP at the same time."
\u201cBREAKING: Out of 30 contenders, @KariLake wins @CPAC straw poll for Vice President. \n\nWe\u2019re flattered, but unfortunately our legal team says the Constitution won\u2019t allow for her to serve as Governor and VP at the same time.\u201d— Kari Lake War Room (@Kari Lake War Room) 1677970529
Given that Lake very much lost her gubernatorial race to current Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs in 2022, there isn't actually any conflict there. She isn't Governor.
However, Lake has gone all in on denying the results of the election, having refused to concede to Hobbs and continuing to assert that she truly won the seat, despite losing an official challenge to the results.
Twitter users were quick to mock Lake.
\u201c@KariLakeWarRoom @KariLake @CPAC Does it say anything about being neither? Because thats pretty much reality.\u201d— Kari Lake War Room (@Kari Lake War Room) 1677970529
\u201c@KariLakeWarRoom @KariLake @CPAC I got good news for you then.\u201d— Kari Lake War Room (@Kari Lake War Room) 1677970529
\u201c@KariLakeWarRoom @KariLake @CPAC\u201d— Kari Lake War Room (@Kari Lake War Room) 1677970529
\u201c@KariLakeWarRoom @KariLake @CPAC Not to worry since @katiehobbs is the Governor and Trump will never be the nominee.\u201d— Kari Lake War Room (@Kari Lake War Room) 1677970529
\u201c@KariLakeWarRoom @KariLake @CPAC\u201d— Kari Lake War Room (@Kari Lake War Room) 1677970529
\u201c@KariLakeWarRoom @KariLake @CPAC Hey she finally won something, congrats!\u201d— Kari Lake War Room (@Kari Lake War Room) 1677970529
\u201c@KariLakeWarRoom @KariLake @CPAC I just don\u2019t get why we are so eager to nominate two election losers on one ticket.\u201d— Kari Lake War Room (@Kari Lake War Room) 1677970529
It's really no wonder that CPAC attendees like Lake for Trump's running mate, she has long spouted his talking points and seems to genuinely believe them.
Despite the protests of her campaign, Lake does seem to be considering a run for higher office, however.
She told Charlie Kirk that she would consider a Senate run if her legal case challenging the results of Arizona's gubernatorial election doesn't give her a "decent ruling."
When Kirk asked her if she was considering running for Senate against Kyrsten Sinema, Lake said:
"Yes I am entertaining it. I mean my number one priority is our court case, and I have full confidence in our court case and I hope we will get a judge to do the right thing."
"But I'm also looking at what happens if we don't get a decent ruling in that, and they want me to go away, they want our movement to go away. I represent we the people, and if they want us gone so badly that they're willing to steal an election then I'm not going to let them have that, I won't go away."
While Lake's alleged election fraud case was already rejected by a Maricopa County judge, she immediately filed an appeal.
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