Kari Lake opponent Gallego again expands his lead in Arizona Senate race, new poll shows

Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego has widened his lead over Republican opponent Kari Lake in the Arizona Senate race, according to the latest poll.

The survey, conducted by Morning Consult between August 30 and September 8 among 901 likely voters, shows Gallego with a 8-point lead over his challenger, with 49% of the support compared to Lake's 41%.

It is a higher margin than the four previous polls, where Lake got as close as three percentage points in a CNN/SSRS survey among 682 likely voters. The latest one, by Insider/Advantage, showed Gallego with 49% of the support compared to Lake's 45%.

Lake, however, has rejected surveys showing her trailing her opponent, recently telling NewsNation that she is actually ahead in her "internal polling."

"There were a couple of really bad outlier polls that were included and were just absolutely absurd, partisan polls. I know what my internal polling looks like," she said during a passage of the interview. She added that hers is the "third-best chance for a pickup seat in these closely contested races." "And I feel we're going to win this one."

As the race continues, Gallego has gotten significant backing as he seeks to maintain the lead. Concretely, the PAC affiliated with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, CHC BOLD PAC, is investing $1.1 million in ads targeting Latinas across the state. Titled "Las Jefas" (The bosses). It is the biggest spend in the group's history, according to NBC News.

"Raised by a single, working mother, Gallego knows who is boss in Arizona. Grandmothers, mothers, sisters. The bosses. And in the Senate he will fight for them," says a narrator in the ad.

Gallego also got a boost from an endorsement by the state's police association. In a letter published on X, the APA, described as the "largest police/public safety association i the state, representing thousands of active law enforcement officers, said Gallego "has continually fought for robust, increased funding for America's Law Enforcement."

The two candidates are set to face each other in a debate on October 9, organized by the Arizona Clean Elections Commission. Some in the state GOP have criticized the fact that the election commission excluded Eduardo Quintana, the Green Party's candidate, saying the decision is illegal.

A local official, Sen. Jake Hoffman, said the committee broke the law by requiring candidates to get at least 1% of total ballots counted in their primary elections. The threshold was 12,400 votes, whereas Quintana received 282, according to the Arizona Media Association.