Lake comes up short with $4.3 million haul compared to Gallego’s $10.4 million

Republican Senate candidates in Arizona are showing lackluster fundraising numbers compared to Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ).

Kari Lake , a former Arizona news anchor turned political candidate, raised $4.3 million in the second quarter of the year. Her Republican opponent, Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb, reported a $422,000 haul. Gallego, the only Democrat in the race to replace Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ), raised $10.4 in the second quarter of 2024.

With Lake’s modest haul, she enters July with $2.8 million in cash on hand and $812,000 in debt. Gallego enters the month with $9.2 million in cash on hand and no debt.

According to the Arizona Republic , Lake spent about as much as she raised last quarter but had a lighter advertising presence in the Grand Canyon State than Gallego did .

Lake should benefit from $1.4 million from the National Republican Senatorial Committee and the Arizona Republican Party in a shared fundraising operation split. In a recent interview with KTAR, a local Phoenix radio station, she included the NRSC donation in her estimated haul and questioned, without evidence, the root of Gallego’s fundraising.

“We’re raising good money, but the Democrats always raise more,” she said. “God only knows where their money is coming from. … We had over $5 million raised this quarter.”

“Arizonans are rejecting power-hungry Kari Lake and her dangerous plan to ban abortion,” Gallego campaign spokeswoman Hannah Goss told the Arizona Republic. “Meanwhile, grassroots donors across Arizona are chipping in what they can to send Marine combat veteran Ruben Gallego to the U.S. Senate to continue his work of cutting costs, defending abortion rights, and taking care of our veterans.”

This quarter, Lake held a fundraiser at former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort, and her campaign claimed it raised over $1 million within two days of the event. That may not be the case, however, as campaign finance filings reveal Lake’s campaign received $280,000 from individual donors within a week of the Florida event. In the last seven days of the quarter, Lake pulled in $597,000.

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Lamb’s haul was the highest his campaign has produced in a quarter since he entered the race. His campaign has struggled to become relevant in the state and was not helped by Lake’s refusal to debate him earlier this year. Internal polling also shows Lake with a leg up on Lamb by over 30 percentage points in the Republican primary.

Arizona’s primary is July 30.