Democrat Sinema wins Arizona U.S. Senate seat
PHOENIX — Democrat Kyrsten Sinema won Arizona’s open U.S. Senate seat Monday in a race that was among the most closely watched in the nation, beating Republican Rep. Martha McSally in the battle to replace GOP Sen. Jeff Flake.
The three-term congresswoman won after a slow vote count that dragged on for nearly a week after voters went to the polls Nov. 6. She becomes Arizona’s first Democratic U.S. senator since 1994. Her win cemented Arizona as a swing state after years of Republican dominance.
Sinema portrayed herself as a moderate who works across the aisle to get things done.
McSally, a former Air Force pilot who embraced President Donald Trump after opposing him during the 2016 elections, had claimed Sinema’s antiwar protests 15 years ago disqualified her and said one protest amounted to what she called “treason.”
But during her six years in Congress, Sinema built one of most centrist records in the Democratic caucus, and she voted for bills backed by Trump more than 60 percent of the time. She backed legislation increasing penalties against people in the country illegally who commit crimes.
McSally’s attacks on Sinema reached back more than 15 years, when Sinema was a Green Party spokeswoman and liberal activist.
McSally backed Trump’s tax cut, border security and the Affordable Care Act repeal agenda as she survived a three-way GOP primary in August, defeating two conservative challengers who claimed her support for Trump was fake. McSally also campaigned on her military record and support for the Armed Forces.
Sinema attacked McSally’s leadership of last year’s failed Affordable Care Act repeal effort as a sign she would not protect Arizona residents with pre-existing medical conditions. McSally argued that she would protect patients, despite her vote on the bill that would have removed many of those protections.
The contest drew more than $90 million in spending, including more than $58 million by outside groups, according to Federal Election Commission reports. Attack ads by both sides clogged the airwaves for months.