McSally remark about fasting donors draws laughs from left
Sen. Martha McSally jokingly suggested to supporters to “fast a meal” and use the savings to donate to her campaign, but the move drew guffaws on Friday from the left, who cast it as a sign of fundraising desperation.
McSally, R-Ariz., made the pitch at a campaign event in northern Arizona that made plain a financial reality that has dogged her throughout her race against Democrat Mark Kelly: McSally is way behind in campaign money and is trailing in the polls.
“We’re doing our part to catch up, you know, to get our message out,” she said in a recording first reported by Arizona’s Family (Channel 3). “But it takes resources. So, anybody can give, I’m not ashamed to ask, to invest. If you can give a dollar, five dollars, if you can fast a meal and give what that would be.”
The comment drew instant ridicule and bewilderment on social media. As of 10 p.m. Friday, “McSally” was trending on Twitter with 15,400 tweets.
“Why is Martha McSally trailing in the polls? This sort of stuff doesn’t help,” said Drew Savicki, a contributor to the political website 270towin, in a tweet.
One Twitter user identified as Eric Ferguson wrote: “They already donated to that Wall scam, lost jobs, no unemployment benefits, mail preventing timely delivery of (prescription medicine), and now give up a meal so you can donate it to McSally. All to own the Libz.”
Caroline Anderegg, a McSally campaign spokeswoman, dismissed the entire joke as unworthy of serious media scrutiny.
“This is a dumb, non-story about a candidate,” she said. “It is frankly sad and disgusting that the Dems and the Kelly campaign are launching a misleading character assassination on Martha McSally, who would literally give the shirt off her back for anyone.
“Martha has written checks to people on her block that can’t afford their groceries.”
Others, such as state Sen. Sylvia Allen, R-Snowflake, and state Rep. Walter Blackman, R-Snowflake, who were at the event, took the comment as the joke it was, Anderegg said.
The comment came to light as McSally trails Kelly in the Senate race. As of mid-July, Kelly had $21.2 million in cash compared with McSally’s $11 million.
McSally historically has been one of the better fundraisers among Republicans in the House and now in the Senate. But, as she did in her 2018 Senate loss to Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., she is running against an opponent who has found exceptional financial support in Arizona and across the country.