President Donald Trump has nominated Kari Lake and Doug Mastriano — two allies who made unsuccessful gubernatorial bids in battleground states — to diplomatic posts.
The White House announced Monday that Trump has appointed Lake as ambassador to Jamaica and Mastriano as ambassador to Slovakia. Both nominations require Senate confirmation.
Mastriano, who ran for governor of Pennsylvania, and Lake, who lost in Arizona, both embraced the president and his baseless election schemes and were rejected by voters in 2022.
“I look forward to representing our nation abroad, strengthening the friendship between our two countries, and advancing the interests of the American people,” Mastriano said ininformation posted online.
Lake, a former TV anchor who broke through Voice of America as Trump’s appointee to head America’s Global Media Corporation, said he is looking forward to his new role in the Caribbean.
“Jamaica is a country I know well, full of wonderful people, and if confirmed by the Senate, I look forward to strengthening the partnership between our nations, advancing America’s interests abroad, and building a deep friendship between the people of the United States and Jamaica,” he said.social media post.
Mastriano said he will continue to serve as a Pennsylvania state senator until his nomination is confirmed by the Senate. Lake’s future status at the helm of America’s Global Media Agency is unclear.
Mastriano’s nomination is likely to undermine a flagship write-in campaign for him in the Republican gubernatorial primary in Pennsylvania, a race he won in 2022. The campaign, which Mastriano supported but was not involved in, threatened to be an obstacle for the Republican nominee, state Treasurer Stacy Garrity, ahead of next Tuesday’s primary.
Lake earned the USGM appointment last year after losing two statewide races in battleground Arizona. He was defeated by Governor Katie Hobbs in 2022, then sought to succeed Senator Kyrsten Sinema in 2024, but was defeated by Ruben Gallego.
Shortly after joining the USGM in a non-Senate confirmed role, Lake oversaw VOA streaming as part of a government overhaul of the federal workforce. By the end of the administration’s cutbacks last year, about 85 percent of the agency’s workforce had been laid off.
But Lake’s work at the USGM has not withstood legal scrutiny. A federal judge ruled in March that Lake’s tenure as head of the agency was invalid because he was not confirmed by the Senate. Later in March, the same judge ordered the Trump administration to reinstate furloughed workers.
