McSally focuses on China in race against Kelly
To hear Republican Sen. Martha McSally tell it, Democrat Mark Kelly has troubling ties to China at a time when she says Americans should be especially wary of the nation where the coronavirus apparently started.
McSally’s intense focus on China is part of a national GOP strategy that is being used against Democrats in one of the most closely watched Senate races across the country.
It builds on the hostility toward China that President Donald Trump has held from the outset of his administration, principally over trade issues. And, in McSally’s case, it tries to change a conversation that polls show she is currently losing to Kelly, who has previously called China an adversary.
A 57-page memo sent to campaigns in April by the National Republican Senatorial Committee and obtained by Politico advises candidates to blame China for the pandemic, cast the country as an adversary and depict Democratic opponents as “soft on China.”
“From the very beginning of this pandemic, we knew the Chinese government was covering up the origins of it,” McSally told 16,000 Arizonans in a teletown hall Monday.
“We still don’t know who patient zero is, they blame the U.S. Army. They silence doctors. They destroyed samples and they’ve lied to the world in this elaborate coverup scheme and they’re still issuing massive propaganda and disinformation campaigns in order to continue the coverup. … They must be held accountable.”
Kelly’s business background includes indirect ties to Chinese investors friendly with the ruling Communist Party in Beijing, giving the GOP narrative special relevance. It is a part of his portfolio Republicans intend to tell Arizona voters from now to November.
How will China messaging impact Arizona race?
In other races, China has factored heavily into GOP messaging.
In Colorado, Sen. Cory Gardner, RColo., criticized China’s communist regime in digital ads. The two Republicans in Alabama’s GOP Senate run-off race are blasting each other over their views about China.
Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., is advocating sanctions against the Chinese government over its handling of the pandemic: “The time to play nice with China is over,” he wrote in an op-ed for Fox News.
It is unclear how the strategy will play in Arizona’s Senate race, one of the most competitive in the nation that could decide control of the Senate.
For months, public polling has had McSally, who served two terms in the House, trailing Kelly, a first-time candidate. Kelly built a national profile as a gun control activist after his wife, former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, survived an assassination attempt in 2011 near Tucson.
China’s standing with the American public has grown increasingly unpopular amid the pandemic, said Scott Rasmussen, a New York-based national pollster and political analyst.
Before the pandemic, Rasmussen said the public strongly believed China was taking advantage of the U.S. when it came to trade relations.
After the pandemic, he said there is a general belief that China put out misleading information and withheld information and made the pandemic worse, a sentiment reflected by McSally’s constituents during her weekly tele-town halls.
In elections that are won on the margins — as the state’s 2018 Senate race was — the strategy could make or break McSally’s bid, Rasmussen said.
“Close elections can turn on a number of things, so it is possible that if Arizona has another close election, the China issue could be decisive in some way,” he said. “But we’re starting with: how does America come out of this coronavirus lockdown era? The more successful we do that, the better for McSally.”
McSally increases attacks on China, Kelly as pandemic worsens
In the early days of the crisis, as the nation grappled with a shortage of protective medical equipment, McSally repeatedly said the shortage underscored how overly dependent the U.S. is on China for the equipment, as well as ingredients for pharmaceuticals.
As the pandemic worsened and the economic fallout beset the country, she ratcheted up her attacks on China and Kelly.
“While the Chinese Communist Party covered up its responsibility in the coronavirus crisis, a Chinese company invested in my opponent Mark Kelly’s venture,” a May 26 fundraising email from her says. “China is hoping my opponent wins big in November so they have a loyal friend in the Senate.”
At the same time, sitting Republican senators and her GOP allies began hitting Kelly over his ties to a Chinese tech firm, detailed in stories by RealClearPolitics and The Arizona Republic.
McSally’s campaign launched new Facebook ads at the end of May that depict Kelly in front of a Chinese flag. Her allies with the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the arm of the party that works across the nation to elect Republicans, began running negative TV ads Monday against Kelly about his China ties.
The attacks hinge in part on Kelly’s investment ties to World View Enterprises, the Tucson-based company that uses balloons to launch lower-altitude “stratollites” for commercial and governmental mapping and surveillance.
Kelly co-founded the company and then worked as a strategic adviser, a position he left in February 2019. The company has struggled to meet the employment targets originally used to convince Pima County officials of the deal’s value.
Chinese tech giant Tencent Holdings is among World View’s longtime investors.
Like other Chinese tech companies, it works with Chinese authorities to find criminal suspects and quiet political opposition. He continues to hold investments with World View.
Kelly pushes back on McSally’s election messaging
Kelly pushed back against McSally’s China election message this week to The Arizona Republic.
He said in a written statement that
Arizonans are concerned about their health and the economy and are frustrated about the federal government’s “botched” relief funding for small businesses and tribal communities.
“I’ve long said that the Chinese government is an adversary, not because of how the political wind is blowing or what some consultant said, but because I was stationed on an aircraft carrier in the Pacific and saw for myself how growing Chinese influence is a threat to American interests and our democratic partners,” Kelly said.
“Arizona needs an independent voice who will lead on difficult issues like countering Chinese threats to America whether it’s an election year or not, not a politician who mistakes misleading political attacks for leadership.”
If elected, Kelly said he would work with American allies to counter China’s influence and consider economic and diplomatic tools to hold them accountable for the pandemic.
Both candidates have had investments ties to China
McSally and Kelly both had personal investments tied to Chinese companies.
McSally’s most recently filed financial disclosure form shows she was invested in four mutual funds that had investments in Chinese companies — including Tencent — and Chinese government bonds. She held between $18,000 and $95,000 in the funds and sold the investments last year, her campaign aide said.
Kelly and his wife had as much as $130,000 invested in exchange-traded funds and mutual funds composed of foreign holdings, including Tencent, according to his financial disclosure filing. He also had up to $200,000 invested in a private equity firm whose portfolio included at least one Chinese company.
He no longer holds any of those investments, his campaign spokesman said.
Jessica Taylor, Senate editor for the nonpartisan Cook Political Report, said McSally’s strategy “feels like a Hail Mary” effort. Trump’s own praise of China and President Xi Jinping earlier in the pandemic undercut the messaging, she said.
It could play well with the base of the Republican Party, she said, but it may not be the most convincing argument
for the voters who will decide the Arizona Senate seat —disaffected Republicans and independent voters.
“They want more answers of how the economy moves forward and how do we curb this so there isn’t another resurgence,” Taylor said. “Pointing the blame? We’re a globalized nation and we knew this was a threat for months now.”
Return to a failed 2018 strategy
McSally has implied Kelly, a former Navy combat pilot, is beholden to Chinese interests. In raising doubts about her opponent’s patriotic loyalties, it is a return to a strategy that failed with voters in 2018.
In that election, McSally accused Democrat Kyrsten Sinema of condoning “treason” based on her comment in a 2003 radio interview.
McSally, a former Air Force combat pilot, has taken a tough stance over China since arriving at the House of Representatives in 2015.
But her flurry of legislative actions amid the pandemic in recent weeks is noticeable.
Over the past couple of months, for example, McSally has introduced legislation intended to lessen the U.S.’s dependence on China for medications and treatments.
She cosponsored legislation introduced by Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., that authorizes the president to impose sanctions on China if it fails to “provide a full accounting of the events leading up to the outbreak.”
And she joined Senate GOP colleagues to introduce a measure “to prevent Communist China from stealing or sabotaging” U.S. vaccine research by requiring national security evaluations and clearance of all Chinese student visa holders before they can participate in COVID-19 vaccine research.
In a written statement to The Republic, McSally said the U.S. must bring vital manufacturing back to the U.S., especially the production of medical equipment, technology and pharmaceuticals.
“We need to move in the direction of stopping China because our future is at stake and the window is closing to halt their plans for global dominance,” she said. “The 2020 election will not only define foreign policy for the next four years but also define America’s role in the world for generations to come. How can you hold China accountable if you are getting paid by their Communist companies?”
ARIZONA’S #1 REAL ESTATE TEAM
WHEN YOU BUY, RECEIVE 30% BACK
WHEN YOU SELL, RECEIVE 1% LISTING DISCOUNT
RECEIVE MORE BACK