Following Sen. Kyrsten Sinema’s, I-Ariz., announcement that she won’t seek reelection, Arizona Republican Kari Lake picked up the endorsement of Senate Minority Whip John Thune, the No. 2 Republican in the Senate, ahead of a fundraiser she hosted Wednesday night in Washington featuring 17 Republican senators.
“Thank you to Senator Thune for the endorsement,” Lake said in a statement to ABC News. “He worked to confirm President Trump’s judges and pass his agenda. I am looking forward to doing that when we win Arizona and secure the Senate majority.”
Lake has now secured four out of six endorsements from the Senate Republican Leadership Conference as she seeks to shore up credibility she lost disparaging the late GOP Sen. John McCain during her losing gubernatorial run, a race she says was “stolen,” a claim that failed repeatedly in court. She is also a 2020 election-denier, repeatedly claiming, like former President Donald Trump, that the presidential election was rigged.
Arizona Republican Senate candidate Kari Lake during a town hall on the U.S.-Mexico Border hosted by the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Green Valley, Ariz., Jan. 31, 2024.
Advertisement
Rebecca Noble/Reuters, FILE
Thune, in a statement shared with ABC News via Lake’s camp, called her race “critical” as Republicans seek to win back the Senate.
“The Senate race in Arizona is critical for securing a Republican majority in the Senate. Kari Lake is the candidate in Arizona who will work to get the economy back on track and lower the cost of living for families, secure the border and enforce the law and bring safety to our streets,” said the South Dakota senator. “A vote for her opponent is a vote for (President) Joe Biden’s dangerous agenda. I am excited to endorse Kari Lake for Senate in Arizona.”
Sen. John Thune talks after a policy luncheon on Capitol Hill, March 6, 2024.
Mariam Zuhaib/AP
With Thune’s endorsement of Lake, the South Dakota senator appears to be aligning himself closer to Trump, whom he’s criticized in the past.
Advertisement
In 2020, Thune was against the former president’s efforts to delegitimize the 2020 presidential election. Thune notably said those attempts would go “down like a shot dog.” More recently, Thune voted in favor of the bipartisan national security supplemental despite pressure from Trump to reject it.
But last week, Thune endorsed the former president — a week before announcing his own run to replace outgoing Minority Leader Mitch McConnell in the top spot.
“I worked closely with him when he was president last time. You know, I was one of the key negotiators on the Senate Finance Committee on the tax cuts and Jobs Act,” Thune said on Feb. 29. “We put through, I want to say, 150 judges when I was the whip on the floor under his administration, and so yeah — we’ve got a record of accomplishment, of getting things done for the American people.”
Lake has also won the backing of Sen. John Cornyn, who will run against Thune to be GOP leader.
She still lacks the support of McConnell and Sen. Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, vice-chair of the Senate Republican Conference.
Advertisement
“Frankly, we need to get that old bat Mitch McConnell out,” Lake said October 2022, at a rally in Queen Creek, Arizona. “They call him Senate Majority Leader. I don’t see any leadership coming from him.”
Former Michigan sophomore defenseman Hunter Hady has transferred to Arizona State, according to an announcement on the team Instagram. The 6’4’’ defenseman will join the Sun Devils for his junior year.
Hady played just two games on Michigan’s blue line this season against Harvard in November and against Bentley in the NCAA regional semifinal. He recorded a secondary assist on junior forward Garrett Schifsky’s goal in the Bentley game for his only point of the year.
Hady’s contributions were more substantive in his freshman season — though his point total remained the same. He played 32 games for Michigan as the team struggled to find defensive pairings that worked throughout the year. Hady was a reliable blue line presence who could be counted on to provide solid defense and not make significant errors.
Prior to playing for the Wolverines, Hady spent three seasons with the Chicago Steel of the USHL, where he played with current Michigan teammates senior defenseman Luca Fantilli, sophomore forward Michael Hage and junior forward Jayden Perron, among others. He joins an Arizona State team that lost ground in the NCHC this season and is looking to reach a Frozen Four for the second time in its program history.
TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — Jessica Cox, the world’s first licensed armless airplane pilot and a leading advocate for disability-led innovation, will be inducted into the Arizona Aviation Hall of Fame on Friday, May 15, 2026. The induction ceremony, hosted by Rightfooted Foundation International in collaboration with the Pima Air & Space Museum, will take place at the museum from 4:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
Cox’s recognition honors both her historic achievement in flight and her ongoing work expanding access and opportunity for people without arms. Through her leadership at Rightfooted Foundation International (RFI), Cox has championed mentorship, education and practical innovations that help aspiring pilots and families reimagine what’s possible in aviation and beyond.
“Saying I’m proud of her can’t fully encompass what I feel,” said Patrick Chamberlain, Cox’s husband and RFI’s Inclusive Engineering Director. “Jessica’s induction into the Arizona Aviation Hall of Fame recognizes both what she has accomplished and what she continues to do. She has helped shed light on the many pilots with disabilities in aviation and shown the world that disability does not mean inability.”
The 2026 induction class also honors two military aviators: Frank Schiel Jr., a Phoenix-born Flying Tigers veteran credited with seven enemy aircraft destroyed in World War II, and James K. Johnson, a Phoenix-born U.S. Air Force colonel and Korean War double ace credited with ten aerial victories.
Advertisement
The Arizona Aviation Hall of Fame, established in 1985 and housed in the Dorothy Finley Aerospace Gallery at Pima Air & Space Museum, pays tribute to Arizonans who have made significant contributions to aviation and aerospace history.
Since the Arizona Cardinals want to trade back from the No. 3 picks, here are three deals that could work.
The Arizona Cardinals have the third pick in the 2026 NFL draft, which begins this week on Thursday. All the reports coming out are saying that they want to trade out of the pick to acquire more draft picks.
But what does a trade look like and who could be involved?
Advertisement
The Kansas City Chiefs are involved in talks at some level. ESPN’s Adam Schefter expects trade talks to heat up this week.
NFL teams use a variation of a trade value chart when it comes to draft picks. Now, what a team actually is willing to give up can be influenced by potential competition with other teams, but we can’t count on that.
Here is the general trade value chart teams use.
Here are some potential deals that could be done.
Kansas City Chiefs
The Chiefs have two first-round picks, which would be appealing to the Cardinals, who reportedly want to make a move for quarterback Ty Simpson, and the 29th pick might be just the spot to get him.
Advertisement
The third overall pick is worth 514 points.
The Chiefs’ picks at No. 9 (387 points) and No. 29 (202 points) together are worth 589.
To make up the difference, the Cardinals could give up No. 65 (78 points) for a total of 592 points.
One deal could be:
Cardinals receive get No. 9 and No. 29 (589 points)
Chiefs receive No. 3 and No. 65 (592 points)
Another could be:
Cardinals receive No. 9, No. 29, No. 74 and 2027 third-round pick (653 points + value of future third-round pick, which is 36-78 points)
Chiefs receive No. 3 and No. 34 (689 points)
The Cardinals keep their third-round pick and the Chiefs essentially move back five spots from No. 29.
Dallas Cowboys
The Cowboys have the 12th and 20th picks but no pick in the second round.
Advertisement
Pick No. 12 is 347 points and No. 20 is 269 for a total of 616.
This deal is close:
Cardinals receive No. 12, No. 20 (616 points)
Cowboys receive No. 3, No. 65 (592 points)
New Orleans Saints
The Saints are perhaps a dark horse to move up, although they do not have two first-round picks. They have the No. 8 pick, worth 406 points. Their second-round pick, at No. 42, is worth 142 points.
This deal could work:
Cardinals receive No. 8, No. 42 (548 points)
Saints receive No. 3, No. 104 (547 points)
Then the Cardinals could use their two second-round picks to then move back into Round 1 to get Ty Simpson.
They could trade No. 34, No. 42 and No. 65 (395 points) for No. 28, No. 38 and No. 106 (398 total points).
Get more Cardinals and NFL coverage from Cards Wire’s Jess Root and others by listening to the latest on the Rise Up, See Red podcast. Subscribe on Spotify, YouTube or Apple podcasts.
