Source: Politics<\/p>\n
President-elect Donald Trump\u2019s pick of longtime loyalist Kari Lake to lead Voice of America has some Arizona Republicans breathing a sigh of relief.<\/p>\n
Lake has for the last two election cycles dominated Republican politics in Arizona, running and losing back-to-back races for governor and Senate \u2014 and earning her the ire of some of her fellow conservatives in the state. Some Arizona Republicans had already been skeptical of her political future in the state, given the losses, though her name had been floated both for state Republican Party chair and Arizona secretary of state.<\/p>\n
This decision now all but removes her from those conversations, creating space for other Republicans, like Karrin Taylor Robson, who ran against Lake in the Republican gubernatorial primary in 2022 but came in second, to rise to the fore.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you’re a two-time loser and you did worse the second time around, that’s a clue that maybe the voters don’t want you,\u201d said Barrett Marson, a GOP strategist in Arizona. \u201cI think it clears space for the conservative but normal wing of the Republican Party in Arizona.\u201d<\/p>\n
Robson has been floated as a likely Republican candidate for governor, and there was some uncertainty over whether Lake would be interested in a rematch.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs the 2026 governor\u2019s field on the Republican side comes into focus, the big question mark was, what\u2019s Kari Lake going to do? \u2026 This at least partially answers that question and takes a pretty big potential name off the chessboard, at least for now,\u201d a Republican strategist in Arizona, granted anonymity to speak candidly about the dynamics, said. \u201cShe\u2019s certainly a name. She\u2019s been the Republican nominee twice. It\u2019s safe to say she would\u2019ve been formidable. It\u2019s a fairly big deal, I think, in terms of how that race is going to play out.\u201d<\/p>\n
Still, Lake, who maintains a robust social media presence and following among the MAGA crowd, is expected to remain an important presence in Arizona GOP politics. Multiple Republican political operatives in the state said had Lake run for Arizona Republican Party chair, she likely would have won.<\/p>\n
Lake\u2019s name had also been floated for U.S. ambassador to Mexico, a post that ultimately went to former U.S. Ambassador to El Salvador Ronald Johnson. Johnson is a Green Beret who spent more than 20 years at the CIA and brings significant foreign policy experience to the job.<\/p>\n
At the federally funded broadcaster Voice of America, Lake will lead a $267 million agency that broadcasts in more than 40 languages to a global audience of more than 354 million people. Lake has more than three decades of experience in broadcast news, including 22 years working at the Fox affiliate in Phoenix.<\/p>\n
The Voice of America director is officially appointed by the head of the U.S. Agency for Global Media, a Senate-confirmed position Trump has yet to name. The VOA director needs a majority support from a seven-member advisory board of presidential appointees, who require Senate confirmation.<\/p>\n