McSally sails
through a grueling Arizona GOP Senate Primary
ARIZONA:
Report By: KANWAL ABIDI
Martha McSally represents the people of Arizona’s Second Congressional
District in the U.S. House of Representatives, where she serves on the
Committees on Armed Services and Homeland Security and as the Chair of the
Subcommittee on Border and Maritime Security. Prior to serving in Congress,
Representative McSally served 26 years in the U.S. Air Force, retiring in 2010
as a full Colonel. She is the first female fighter pilot to fly in combat and
first to command a fighter squadron in combat in United States history
McSally, the GOP
establishment favorite, won 51 percent of the primary vote with
3 percent of precincts reporting, according to a projection from The
Associated Press.
McSally entered the race after Senator Jeff Flake announced his
retirement, and she won the support of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. She beat two Republicans who ran to her right: former
state Senator. Kelli Ward, who won 29 percent of the vote, and former
Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who ended up with
just 20 percent.
Like other
Republican primaries this year, the costly contest largely became a competition
about which candidate was most closely aligned to President
Trump, who opted not to endorse anybody
in the race because of personal connections he had with all three of
them.
McSally’s
victory gives national Republicans a sigh of relief, boosting their hopes of
retaining a Senate seat being left vacant by retiring Sen. Jeff
Flake (R), one which has been a hot
favorite Republican seat. At her election night party, McSally quickly drew a
contrast between her and Sinema. McSally played up her military service, while
casting Sinema as an ultra liberal who is "left of the Pelosi Democrats." And McSally dubbed Sinema with
a Trump-style nickname.
"It's
a choice between a doer and a talker, between a patriot and a protester,
between a career fighter pilot and a career politician," McSally said to
loud cheers Tuesday night. "Hollywood Sinema, I like to say that—Sinema
with a 'C,'" she added. "She's undergone an extreme makeover,
fabricating a centrist image to fulfill her ambition. She's a fake production,
running on a phony script in order to fool the voters."
Many
Republicans believed McSally was the only viable candidate for the general
election, believing that Ward was too far to the right for Arizona's
increasingly diverse electorate.
........................................
Reported in person from Arizona on 28th August 2018
Kanwal Abidi - White House Correspondent and Bureau Chief, Washington D.C.
