Kari Lake wins Arizona’s Republican Senate primary. She’ll face Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego: NPR

Republican candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives Abraham Hamadeh, Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate Kari Lake and Republican candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives Blake Masters wave to supporters at a 2022 event in Phoenix, Arizona.

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Arizonans have chosen Kari Lake, an election-denying ally of former President Donald Trump, as the Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate in a race that could decide control of the body this fall, The Associated Press has learned.

With early voting results reporting, Lake leads with about 53% of the GOP primary vote, well ahead of about 41% held by her opponent, Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb, and a distant third, Elizabeth Jean Reye. Her margin of victory is likely to change as more votes are counted.

She will face Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego, who ran unopposed for his party’s nomination for the Senate seat currently held by retiring Sen. Krysten Sinema, I-Ariz.

Lake has been a MAGA Republican since launching his political career with a failed 2022 campaign for Arizona governor. While running for the Senate, Lake continued to deny that he lost to Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs, and earlier this month filed another lawsuit to overturn the results of that gubernatorial race — and get himself appointed governor.

Her persistent election denial may have helped her gain the support of Trump, who quickly endorsed Lake when she entered the U.S. Senate race last fall. But some Arizona Republicans see it as a weakness, fearing she will lose another statewide race this fall to Gallego, a Marine veteran who has consistently led Lake in polls so far.

Her changing views on abortion have also been criticized by Democrats. in a state grappling with a ballot measure to enshrine abortion rights in the Arizona Constitution this fall.

In April, Lake condemned the Arizona Supreme Court’s ruling that restored a near-total abortion ban in the state — a law she previously praised as a gubernatorial candidate, when she said she was “glad” that Arizona would ban the books in the event the U.S. Supreme Court overturns the Roe v. Wade ruling.

Gallego is a fervent ally of the Arizona abortion ballot measure and has vowed to repeal the Senate’s filibuster to codify the Roe v. Wade decision.

Arizona has become a key swing state in the presidential race, meaning even primary races attract a lot of support and attention. The state helped President Biden win in 2020, and Democrats have won key statewide races, including the U.S. Senate seat Masters lost, in 2022.

But Republicans now hold a nearly 260,000-person advantage among registered voters and hope to use that advantage to win the state back for Trump.