Kari Lake looks to close spending gap with Ruben Gallego with ad blitz as Arizona senate race heats up

Arizona Republican Kari Lake is set to spend some $10 million in ads during the fall as she seeks to close gap with Rep. Ruben Gallego, her Democratic competitor in this year's Senate run, Axios reported on Monday.

The first batch of ads will air during May and will focus on immigration and the southern border, an issue Republicans have been using to criticize Democrats at a national level and has led the Biden administration to implement tougher measures in the area.

Lake's campaign will seek to keep the issue at the forefront of the campaign, the outlet added, as they see it as a vulnerability for her opponent.

Gallego, in turn, will also focus on the issue that most Democrats are using to hammer Republicans: abortion. Arizona garnered national attention during the past weeks as the state legislature approved a 1864 law, which predated its existence as a state, which banned abortions in most cases, including rape and incest.

Following weeks of uproar, the law was finally banned as enough Republicans sided with Democrats to move the other way. Lake had initially praised the legislation, but backtracked after the generalized uproar.

"This total ban on abortion the Arizona supreme court just ruled on is out of line with where the people of this state are," said Lake in a video statement. "I agree with Pesident Trump – this is such a personal and private issue."

According to Cook Political Report, the rate is currently considered a toss-up. Gallego has already placed a $19 million ad buy, an extremely large figure for a Senate race. The state will also be key at the national level, Arizona being one of the few states still considered a battleground.

President Joe Biden won in the 2020 elections, but Trump currently holds a sizable lead, according to a New York Times/Siena College/The Philadelphia Enquirer poll from Monday.

Lake recently received national attention for telling her supporters to "strap on a Glock" ahead of the election season and said that military and law enforcement veterans should be "ready," according to a report by NBC News.

"We need to send people to Washington, D.C., that the swamp does not want there," she said in a campaign rally in Mohave County. "And I can think of a couple people they don't want there. First on that list is Donald J. Trump; second is Kari Lake."

"We need to strap on our — let's see. What do we want to strap on?" Lake said. "We're going to strap on our, our seat belt. We're going to put on our helmet or your Kari Lake ball cap. We are going to put on the armor of God. And maybe strap on a Glock on the side of us just in case."