Kari Lake rejects claim she could be Trump’s running mate

Kari Lake says she is “100 percent” committed to serving as governor of Arizona — after her name topped a list of potential running mates former President Donald Trump reportedly considered.

“I am 100% committed to serving as governor of Arizona. I will also work to get President Trump back in the White House as soon as possible,” she told DailyMail.com in a statement following a report that Trump viewed her as a “model” VP under a quartet of female contenders.

“Anything outside of those two goals is nothing but a distraction,” Lake said.

Lake topped a straw poll at the CPAC rally where Trump loyalists were in office and received 20 percent support when asked who would be a favored vice presidential candidate. She lit up the crowd at the annual meeting of conservative activists, and even seemed to do so kiss a Trump portrait on stage.

“My goal is to be in the Arizona governor’s office,” she continued in her statement. “I won the election and everyone in Arizona knows it. We The People deserve to have the leaders we elect hold the office for which we elect them.”

“Our best days are ahead of us and it all starts with choosing America-First candidates across the country,” she added.

An appeals court last month turned down her election challenge for Democrat Katie Hobbs, after she was defeated by 17,117 votes and sought to appeal an earlier Maricopa County Superior Court ruling.

Lake traveled to the Iowa presidential proving ground last month, where she won the Des Moines Registry she would help Trump “in any way she can.” She also said at the time that she was “not running for VP” and “was not running for President.”

Still planning his own return to Iowa, Trump faces a competitive contest in which he must overcome would-be rivals such as Florida Governor Ron DeSantis before being allowed to research a running mate.

Lake’s comments come next Axios reported that Trump is already thinking of Lake as a potential choice for vice president, and that she is one of several female potential candidates. The report says Trump views the telegene Lake as a “model photo” of the vice president, citing people who discussed the matter with the former president. It highlights her loyalty to Trump, who has taken on many of his claims of election fraud.

The respect is mutual. Lake, who traveled to Mar-a-Lago just days after polls closed in November and had refused to admit defeat.

She said in her remarks at CPAC’s Ronald Reagan dinner, where she kissed the Trump portrait, “We stand with JFK, Ronald Reagan, Steve Bannon. We stand with Donald J. Trump.”

Bannon is Trump’s former chief White House strategist who received a presidential pardon as one of Trump’s last acts in office.

There have been reports for months that Trump is happy to consider a female running mate.

That comes amid election analysis, such as one of the Brookings Institutionshowing that women in the suburbs gave Joe Biden a crucial boost in battlefield states, with Biden gaining a 613,000 vote advantage over Trump, compared to Trump’s $1.2 million vote advantage over Hillary Clinton in 2016 — a swing of 2 million votes.

Also on his list is former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley, who is holding another political event in her home state in mid-March.

Haley was well received at the conservative rally (which Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, a potential Trump rival, skipped). She was harassed with cheers of “Trump!” as he walked the halls of the Conservatives’ annual meeting.

The closest she came to prodding Trump was when she told a crowd, “Our cause is good, but we have failed to win the trust of a majority of Americans.”

She added, “That ends now. When you are tired of losing, trust in a new generation.”

Another option is Arkansas’ new administration Sarah Huckabee Sanders, a former Trump White House press secretary who gave the GOP response to Biden’s State of the Union address and warned against wake-ism.

Trump spokesman Steven Cheung tried to quell early speculation — which comes after Trump has held only a few events since launching his White House campaign, while early positioning is still underway. Former Maryland Governor Larry Hogan announced days ago that he would stay out in an effort to prevent a pile-up that could help Trump.

The New York Times reported last week that during a phone call last week, Trump asked his former flack to support him, and she told him she wasn’t ready to do so. The report characterized Trump as “disappointed but not angry.”

The quartet isn’t the only woman in the mix. Bannon last month publicly brought Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), who has become a fundraising powerhouse, and who has become a prominent supporter of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

“This is not a shrinking violet. She’s ambitious — she’s not shy about that, and she shouldn’t be,” Bannon said on his “War Room Pandemic” podcast.

She sees herself shortlisted for Trump’s VP. To paraphrase Cokie Roberts, when MTG looks in the mirror, she sees a potential president smiling back,” he told NBC.

Also mentioned is Rep. Elise Stefanik (RN.Y.), who supported Trump in November and became the Supreme Leader in Congress to support him.