Trump hovers over McCain, Rubio in Senate poll

washington — Republican voters in Arizona and Florida are expected to pick Senators John McCain and Marco Rubio as their respective US Senate nominees when they go to the polls, but one name not on either ballot, Donald Trump, looms large.

The Republican presidential nominee has endorsed both McCain and Rubio in their re-election bids even though he has rocky relations with both senators.

Trump offended McCain and many other Republicans last year by suggesting that the maverick senator and party’s 2008 presidential nominee was anything but a war hero because he was captured during the Vietnam War after his airplane was shot down during a bombing mission. In March, Trump ended Rubio’s presidential bid by trouncing him in the Florida primary to cap a race in which the New York businessman taunted the first-term senator as “little Marco,” and Rubio insulted Trump on everything from his hair colour and the size of his hands to misspelled words in tweets.

During their re-election efforts, both McCain and Rubio have offered support for Trump as the party’s White House nominee. But they have tiptoed around him, mainly out of concern that his provocative comments on illegal immigration, Muslims and US support for Nato could alienate moderate and independent voters in their states.

At the same time, they have steered clear of attacks on Trump that might antagonise his core supporters.

Adding to the intrigue is that the fates of the two senators will likely play a big role in whether Republicans can upset expectations and maintain majority control of the Senate after the November 8 election.

But first, McCain will have to win Tuesday’s Republican primary in Arizona and Rubio will have to prevail in Florida.

McCain, who is trying to extend a 30-year Senate career, faces a challenge from physician and former state Senator Kelli Ward, who is aligned with the conservative Tea Party movement. — Reuters

They steer clear of attacks on Trump