GOP firebrand and two-time Arizona election loser Kari Lake may be gearing up to try her luck in Iowa.
The 56-year-old former Fox TV news anchor, who unsuccessfully campaigned for Arizona governor in 2022 and Arizona senator in 2024, purchased a $60,000, two-bedroom condo in her home state of Iowa, MS Now reports.
Public records show that on Dec. 1, 2025, the Halperin Family Living Trust purchased a condo in Davenport’s Harrison Manor Condominiums. Lake’s husband, Jeff Halperin, is a trustee.
The ultra-MAGA Trump loyalist is currently a senior adviser to the United States Agency for Global Media (USAGM). The agency oversees Voice of America, which has been under siege during Lake’s watch.
Her property purchase fuels ongoing speculation that she is trying to relaunch her flagging electoral politics career by running for office in Iowa.
Lake hovered around Iowa politics as she ran for office in Arizona, and may be eyeing Iowa Senator Joni Ernst’s seat, which is up for election in 2026.
At the start of the second Trump administration, Ernst was reluctant to vote to confirm Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense, leading MAGA Iowans to call for her to be primaried. Lake was seen as MAGA-favored potential challenger, and scheduled a “Welcome Home Kari Lake” speaking event in Des Moines in January 2025 amid the controversy. After Ernst voted to confirm Hegseth, the event was cancelled.
At the time, Lake spokesperson Alex Nicoll told the Arizona Republic that “Kari Lake is not running for office in Arizona or anywhere else. She’s going to D.C. to lead the Voice of America and help spread the amazing story of America around the world.” However, MS Now reported that, “A source familiar with her political interests said at the time that Lake had not ruled out a primary challenge to Ernst.”
Ernst, 55, announced in September that she would not run for re-election in 2026. Lake did not rule out running for the open seat in the upcoming election.
“I love Iowa. It’s where I was raised, where I went to college, and where so much of my story began. Expanding our roots there means being closer to family and closer to the values that shaped me,” she said in a statement to the Daily Beast.
“Right now, I am focused on my mission to help President Trump Make America Great Again and on the work ahead, because what’s good for America is good for both Arizona and Iowa,” she added.
If Lake forgoes running for Ernst’s seat in 2026, she could run for 92-year-old Chuck Grassley’s seat in 2028. Grassley has not ruled out running for re-election again, though he would be 95 by the time he’s inaugurated in 2029.
Lake, who once described herself as “Trump in Heels,” built a national profile as an extreme election denier. When she lost the 2022 Arizona gubernatorial race to Democrat Katie Hobbs, she refused to concede and peddled conspiracies about widespread election fraud. In 2023, she held several events in Iowa to rant about election integrity.
During her failed 2024 Senate campaign, she generated controversy for appearing to tell her supporters to arm themselves against her opposition. At an April 2024 rally, she said, “I have a feeling with as many veterans and former law enforcement, active law enforcement ... you guys are ready for it. We are going to put on the armor of God. And maybe strap on a Glock on the side of us just in case.”
In December 2025, she demanded that Trump’s political enemies be put in “effin handcuffs” and “locked up for the rest of their lives” in a fiery Newsmax appearance.
