McSally enters high-profile race for Senate seat
TUCSON — Republican Rep. Martha McSally called on the national GOP to “grow a pair of ovaries” as she launched her Senate bid Friday, joining the race to replace retiring GOP Sen. Jeff Flake by embracing President Trump and his outsider playbook in one of the nation’s premier contests.
Like few others, the Arizona election is expected to showcase the feud between the Republican Party’s establishment and its fiery anti-immigration wing in particular — all in a border state that features one of the nation’s largest Latino populations.
McSally, a two-term congresswoman already backed by many GOP leaders in Arizona and Washington, announced her candidacy in a fiery video that touched on border security and Sharia law.
“Like our president, I’m tired of PC politicians and their BS excuses,” McSally said. “I’m a fighter pilot and I talk like one.”
“That’s why I told Washington Republicans to grow a pair of ovaries and get the job done,” she added.
The election will test the appeal of the Trump political playbook — which emphasizes the dangers of illegal immigration and demands border security above all else — in a state where nearly 1 in 3 residents is Latino and roughly 1 million are eligible to vote, according to the Pew Research Center. Trump won Arizona in 2016 by less than 4 percentage points.
McSally, 51, enters a dynamic Republican primary field that features former Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio, 85, who was pardoned by Trump last year after defying a judge’s order to stop traffic patrols that targeted immigrants. The primary also includes former state Sen. Kelli Ward, who was an early favorite of former Trump adviser Steve Bannon.
Some of McSally’s conservative critics dismiss her as an establishment favorite whose record doesn’t match her tough talk.
Democrats see Arizona as a rare opportunity to pick up a Senate seat in 2018.