Posted on 02/05/2018 5:48:35 AM PST by Kaslin
Arizona’s Republican U.S. Sen. Jeff Flake has announced he’s not running for reelection, so several candidates have jumped into the open race to replace him. There are currently three frontrunners. GOP Rep. Martha McSally, a combat pilot who served in the U.S. Air Force, former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, and former Arizona State Senator Kelli Ward. Ward made a name for herself launching an unsuccessful conservative challenge to Sen. John McCain in 2016.
McSally is the darling of the GOP establishment. She was elected to Congress in 2014, representing a swing district seat formerly held by Gabrielle Giffords. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell recruited McSally last year as one of several moderates to run for the Senate. “We are going to be supporting people who can actually win,” he said in his year-end news conference critical of conservative candidates. “But we have got some great candidates out there and you're familiar with them, Martha McSally …” His Senate Leadership Fund super PAC intends to spend considerable money supporting her run.
McSally is a member of the Republican Main Street Partnership, a group of moderate Republicans in Congress. McCain is also a member. Her voting record is less conservative than both Flake and McCain. The Heritage Foundation rated her 61 percent this session. They rated Flake 88 percent and McCain 66 percent. The American Conservative Union gives her a lifetime rating of 66 percent. Flake has a lifetime rating of 93 percent and McCain has 81 percent. FreedomWorks gave her a lifetime score of 60 percent. It rated Flake 93 percent and McCain 69 percent. Mark Levin’s Conservative Review gives all three of them an F.
McSally did not endorse President Trump in the 2016 presidential election. She supports DACA. In 2015, she voted against an amendment to a spending bill that would have ended DACA. In 2017, she sent a letter along with nine other members of Congress to Speaker Paul Ryan, asking him to find a legislative solution to DACA.
Three leading conservative organizations oppose her; the Club for Growth, the Senate Conservatives Fund and FreedomWorks.
Conservatives have complained about McCain’s moderate record for years. Recently, they’ve been highly critical of Flake too. Why would they elect someone who will be even more frustrating? McSally would be better off serving Arizona in the House, being in a difficult swing district for the GOP to maintain ahold of.
McSally is a strong fundraiser so will be a formidable candidate. Polls show she has a reasonable chance at winning the Republican nomination since Arpaio and Ward are splitting the conservative vote. After Arpaio joined the race, Ward dropped to 19 percent in the latest poll. Arpaio came in at 22 percent and McSally at nearly 31 percent.
If Trump makes an endorsement, it will make a significant difference. There is a small chance Trump might endorse McSally. He backed Luther Strange over the more conservative Roy Moore in Alabama’s Senate race, believing Strange was more electable in the general election. The winner of Arizona’s Senate primary will face a formidable challenger in the general. Democratic Rep. Kyrsten Sinema is a relentless campaigner who has positioned herself as a moderate in recent years. There is a concern that Ward is not well-known enough to defeat Sinema. However, at least one poll shows Ward defeating Sinema in the general. Arpaio has been attacked so much through the legal system that there is concern baggage will hurt him in the general.
But Arizona is still a fairly red state. The GOP controls both houses of the state legislature, all 11 statewide offices, both U.S. Senate seats and four of the eight U.S. House seats. This past year, Guns & Ammo ranked it the No. 1 state in the country for Second Amendment-friendly laws. Americans United for Life ranked the state No. 1 for pro-life laws.
People are tired of lukewarm GOP Senators McCain and Flake. It will come out during the general that Sinema once received the Vladimir I. Lenin award from the Arizona Federation of Taxpayers for being the most far left member of the state legislature. A real conservative can defeat her. It’s not necessary to settle for a Republican to the left of McCain and Flake.
Not an inane argument. The district - which I live in - has no trouble with someone voting conservative. The Democrats who have won in the district did so after bitter GOP primaries that saw the GOPE attacking the conservative Republican. When the GOP withholds funding from conservative candidates in the district, after spending money to get liberal ones thru the primary, THEN the democrat wins.
It was stupid to even allow women to become fighter pilots. That was some Clinton era nonsense.
It’s easier for me to check how they voted in the Senate, than in the House :(
At age 75 I can say this without being legitimately deemed ageist: Joe Arpiao, great guy and great conservative that he is, is, at age 84, too old for the job. That leaves Kelli Ward, in whose favor he should drop out.
Yes she is
My fear is that award and Arpaio will split conservative vote putting McShamey Minime through
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell recruited McSally last year as one of several moderates to run for the Senate. “We are going to be supporting people who can actually win,” he said in his year-end news conference critical of conservative candidates.
It's possible that both McSally and Ward make it to the Senate.
-PJ
Besides, anyone that is not a resident of Arizona has no say in this.
“Besides, anyone that is not a resident of Arizona has no say in this.”
Anyone who is not a resident of Arizona has no VOTE in it, but they certainly can discuss what they THINK about it! And yes, I have a vote.
The AZGOP is trying to sneak McSally in as the next Amnesty Senator using Joe Arpaio’s ego to crowd out Kelli Ward.
They want to maintain two Amnesty Senators.
That is how we are defeated. We split our vote among a number of choices and the moderate/libtard wins. I like sheriff Joe but at his age it is time to retire. Accordingly, I will be supporting and voting for Kelli Ward in the primary. The rest of the state better get smart quick.
McCain and Flake are both Soros puppets.
McSally is a member of the Republican Main Street Partnership, a group of moderate Republicans in Congress.
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This is a group founded by Eric Cantor and Mitt Romney to elect Bush League Republicans to work for the Cheap Labor Express instead of the citizens.
She's a Communist. Support Ward in the primary, but if she loses, support McSally, anyway. This isn't a seat you want to lose in the interest of purity to a wicked stepsister like Sinema.
Lets see where Trump stands in this race.
If Trump backs Ward than Arpiao should drop out, otherwise Arpiao may be his designated blocker.
As the NRSC has repeatedly shown us they will kneecap any GOP candidate that they do not control if they win the nomination.
The Bush League Republicans are using Joe Arpaio’s ego to crowd out Kelli Ward, who is the reason Flake is quitting.
They want to sneak in McSally.
Yep
An Amnesty Senator is an Amnesty Senator.
Anyone that sides with illegal aliens and their employers instead of the citizens and the rule of law are as bad as Flake and McCain.
I do question the sheriff’s ambition; we need to support Dr. Ward, but her chances are weak with Arpaio in the race.
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