Former Kari Lake opponent says fighting her for GOP Senate nomination is 'suicide mission'

Failed Arizona gubernatorial candidate and pro-Trump election conspiracy theorist Kari Lake fights so viciously that nobody in the GOP is now willing to challenge her, a former opponent said.

Former Rep. Matt Salmon (R-AZ), who dropped out of the 2022 race to be the party's nominee for governor race in which he ran against Lake, said possible candidates consider going against her as a "suicide mission."

“She’s the kind of person that doesn’t just run to win. She runs to destroy," he said.

POLL: Should Trump be allowed to run for office?

“To walk through the kind of sewage that you have to walk through to campaign against Kari Lake — it’s not a pleasant prospect."

Lake, who lost the governor's race but is stilling fighting the defeat in the courts, launched her Senate bid Tuesday with a speech that put aside her previous election-denying rhetoric and instead focused on issues such as rising inflation, gas prices and the border crisis," Politico reported.

According to Politico, Lake's sanitized rhetoric shows an effort to tweak her image. She even voiced a conciliatory message to Biden voters, telling them that she doesn't think they're a "threat to democracy."

"You are a citizen just like me,” she told the crowd. “And I know you’re struggling as well. We’re all struggling — there’s not a gas pump out there for Republicans and one for Democrats.”

Nevertheless, some of Lake's past rhetoric managed to find its way into her speech, specifically when she instructed the crowd to jeer at the "fake news fools" who were present for her speech.

READ MORE: GOP leader backs down from impeachment threat against Wisconsin Supreme Court justice

"Lake’s efforts to recast herself, much like her candidacy as a whole, presents a conundrum for Republicans," Politico's Ally Mutnick writes. "Many had hoped that she would leave the political stage after her defeat in 2022, convinced that she blew a winnable race by waging such a vicious, unapologetic campaign that dwelled on conspiracies."

But after circulating polling that showed Lake's near-invincibility in a primary, it became clear that party has no leverage to stop her, according to Mutnick.

"The National Republican Senatorial Committee has not ruled out endorsing Lake, according to a person familiar with its planning. Its chair, Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.), met with Lake when she was in D.C. He has said he hopes she will focus on the future — and not elections of the past."

Read the full article over at Politico.