“National Republicans are asking President Trump to intervene in the Arizona Senate primary amid rising fears that the GOP will nominate an unelectable candidate and cede the seat to Democrats in November,” Politico reports.
“During a recent phone call, NRSC Chairman Cory Gardner (R-CO) asked the president to endorse GOP Rep. Martha McSally, widely viewed as the establishment favorite in the Aug. 28 primary… Trump was non-committal and did not say yes or no to the request.”
Arizona Republic: “Trump agreed to pose for a photo with Ward during the December 2017 visit, but specifically asked that it not be shared, according to a White House official who witnessed the brief exchange but is not authorized to speak publicly about it.”
“Ward… has been seeking the president’s endorsement since the earliest days of her campaign; she also failed to capture Trump’s endorsement during her unsuccessful 2016 primary challenge of U.S. Sen. John McCain. For nearly a year, Ward has touted a tweet in which Trump invoked her name while slamming U.S. Sen. Jeff Flake, who is retiring.”
“A day after a December 2017 announcement that Sen. John McCain had been hospitalized for the ‘normal effects’ of cancer treatment, Arizona’s Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) was lobbying for McCain’s Senate seat,” the Arizona Republic reports.
“Gosar’s chief of staff, Thomas Van Flein, conveyed the northern Arizona congressman’s interest in replacing McCain to Gov. Doug Ducey… The brief text exchange began at 11:56 a.m. Dec. 14, less than 24 hours after news reports of McCain’s hospitalization in Bethesda, Maryland.”
Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) has endorsed Kelli Ward (R) over fellow Rep. Martha McSally (R-AZ) ahead of the state’s Republican primary next month, Roll Call reports.
Said Gosar: “We cannot afford another establishment patsy who promises one thing and votes differently.”
He added: “None of us can count on Martha keeping a campaign promise as she will fall for whatever the D.C. elite tells her to do at the time. I have seen that firsthand.”
“Conservative mega-donor Robert Mercer has cut a $500,000 check to a super PAC backing Arizona Senate hopeful Kelli Ward, a major cash infusion that comes ahead of the Aug. 28 primary,” Politico reports.
“Polls have shown Ward, a conservative former state senator, trailing Rep. Martha McSally (R-AZ).”
Arizona U.S. Senate candidate Kelli Ward’s (R) husband “has a history of promoting fringe conspiracy theories on social media,” a CNN reports.
“Michael Ward, who like his wife is a doctor, is an Arizona political activist and heavily involved in his wife’s campaign for the Republican nomination for US Senate in Arizona in the race to replace retiring Sen. Jeff Flake. He frequently appears at campaign events, knocks on doors to speak with voters and has even appeared at a local event on his wife’s behalf.”
A new NBC News/Marist poll in Arizona finds Kyrsten Sinema (D) leading Martha McSally (R) in the U.S. Senate race, 49% to 38%.
Sinema also leads Kelli Ward, 48% to 38%, and tops Joe Arpaio (R), 57% to 32%.
A new CBS News poll in Arizona finds Kyrsten Sinema (D) leading all three of her possible Republican rivals in a U.S. Senate match up.
Sinema tops Kelli Ward (R) 46% to 38%, beats Martha McSally 45% to 37%, and crushes Joe Arpaio (R) 49% to 29%.
Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey (R) quietly met with Sen. John McCain (R) and his wife, Cindy, at the couple’s home outside Sedona, Arizona, The Hill reports.
“The meeting, which was not on the governor’s official schedule, comes amid speculation over whom the Republican governor would appoint to fill the Senate seat should the ailing 81-year-old senior lawmaker and Vietnam War hero unexpectedly leave office. Under state law, Wednesday marks the final day that a vacancy for McCain’s seat could trigger a special election before 2020. After Wednesday, Ducey will have the power to appoint someone to the Senate seat if it did become open.”
Arizona Republic: “In recent days, various media outlets have published reports about whom Ducey might appoint, speculating that the senator’s wife, Cindy, is among those under consideration.”
Rep. Martha McSally (R-AZ) “has dropped her support for immigration-reform legislation that offers a pathway to citizenship for undocumented dreamers in favor of a less generous alternative that also would sharply reduce legal immigration,” the Arizona Republic reports.
“McSally, now a U.S. Senate candidate, instead is backing a bill that calls for allowing undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children to apply for ‘contingent non-immigrant status,’ rather than giving them a shot at becoming legal permanent residents and eventually full U.S. citizens.”
“The move comes as McSally is facing two rival conservatives seeking this year’s Republican nomination for the state’s open Senate seat and as she has taken a harder line on border security and other issues in advance of a combative Republican primary.”
“I don’t think it’s bipartisan when you say you voted against your party only 20 percent of the time. If that’s what’s going on in our country, that’s what’s wrong with Washington, DC.”
— Rep. Martha McSally (R-AZ), in a 2014 debate.
[alert type=”general” dismiss=”no”]Think Progress notes McSally has voted with President Trump 97% of the time.[/alert]
Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) asked his son-in-law, Ben Domenech, over the weekend to “take care of” his daughter as he continues to receive treatment for complications connected to his brain cancer, Roll Call reports.
Tweeted Domenech: “John hugged me tonight. He asked me to take care of Meghan. I said I would.”
He deleted the tweet shortly after.
From a new Axios/Survey Monkey poll:
ARIZONA: Kyrsten Sinema (D) 51%, Martha McSally (R) 42%
ARIZONA: Kyrsten Sinema (D) 51%, Kelli Ward (R) 43%
ARIZONA: Kyrsten Sinema (D) 56%, Joe Arpaio (R) 32%
NEVADA: Jacky Rosen (D) 50%, Dean Heller (R) 44%
TENNESSEE: Phil Bredesen (D) 48%, Marsha Blackburn (R) 47%
Rep. Martha McSally (R-AZ) “said she was sexually abused by a coach when she was in high school, an experience that she said shaped some of the biggest decisions in her life,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“Ms. McSally, a Republican who is running for the Arizona U.S. Senate seat being vacated by GOP Sen. Jeff Flake, has spoken before of being sexually harassed during her 26 years in the Air Force, where she became the first female pilot to fly in combat. But she hasn’t previously discussed publicly her high-school track coach’s alleged sexual abuse.”
A new OH Predictive Insights/ABC15 poll in Arizona finds Kyrsten Sinema (D) leading Marha McSally (R) in a U.S. Senate match up, 47% to 42% with 10% undecided.
In other match ups, Sinema tops Kelli Ward (R), 50% to 40%, and beats Joe Arpaio (R), 59% to 33%.
In the GOP primary race, Ward leads with 36%, followed by McSally at 27% and Arpaio at 22%.
Key finding: “Republicans hold a +12 Republican likely voter advantage in the 2018 General Election, and that’s how we conducted this poll, with a +12 Republican advantage. But in all three matchups the Democrat is winning.”
Arizona lawmakers “are considering a bill that would take Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) seat off the November ballot if the six-term Arizona Republican, who is battling a deadly form of brain cancer, leaves office early,” the Arizona Republic reports.
TPM: “Statehouse Republicans seemingly tried to pull a fast one on their Democratic counterparts, quietly adding an emergency clause to a bipartisan bill to clean up special election laws in the state that would have handed Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey (R) assurance that he’d get to appoint a replacement for McCain through 2020.”
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Wonk Wire, Political Job Hunt and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
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