The Last Time McCain Ran For Senate, Over A Million Democrats Voted Against Him
I don’t know when Mark Kelly decided to be a Democrat or how he came to that decision. He’s mostly been a team player— not like Manchin and Sinema— and was awarded an “A” grade by ProgressivePunch. It’s based on representing a state with a strong Republican tilt and on a voting record that is the 28th most progressive of the 50 Democrats in the Senate. With a lifetime crucial vote score of 89.14%, it’s a better record than presidential hopefuls Amy Klobuchar (87.65%) and Chris Murphy (85.64%) and way better than the 10 conservatives who make up the Senate’s Republican wing of the Democratic Party, from bad to worst Michael Bennet (CO), Maggie Hassan (NH), Jeanne Shaheen (NH), Dianne Feinstein (CA), Jon Tester (MT), Mark Warner (VA), Angus King (I-ME), Tom Carper (DE), Kyrsten Sinema (AZ) and, with a pitiful score of 61.04%, Joe Manchin (WV).
That said, it didn’t surprise me in the slightest to read in the Arizona Republic that Kelly has plenty of support from Arizona Republicans. That’s not a bad thing. I’m always happy to see Republican voters fleeing fascism and voting for independents and Democrats. What does worry me though is when Democrats play up to Republicans to win that support.
On Friday, Kelly and his wife, Gabby Giffords, an extremely conservative former Blue Dog member of Congress before she was shot in the head, launched “Republicans for Kelly” as part of his campaign.
The list, designed to demonstrate Kelly's crossover appeal in Arizona, a newly purple state, includes business executives, past and present politicians and people in a variety of sectors across Arizona.
Members include Paul Charlton, a former U.S. attorney under President George W. Bush; David McIntyre, president and CEO of TriWest Healthcare Alliance; plus five and 13 current and former state legislators and mayors respectively.
The group pointed to Kelly's accomplishments such as the bipartisan infrastructure law that Kelly was instrumental in passing. They also said he helped secure funding for the border and helped to <>advance microchip production<>.
…"It's (Kelly's) character. It's his service to country, which mirrors that of John McCain's," said Max Fose, a former aide to McCain, a six-term Arizona Republican who held the Senate seat Kelly is defending from 1987 until his death in 2018.
"He's trying to bring microchip manufacturing not only home to the United States, but home to Arizona. It's a job creator; It's a national security issue," Fose said.
Elaborating on why he is crossing the aisle to back Kelly, Fose cited Kelly's bipartisan nature: "You don't you don't see Mark Kelly throwing bombs across the aisle, right?"
In an interview with the Arizona Republic, Kelly emphasized the importance of bipartisanship as a senator.
What about all the damage to the economy caused by the Trump tax cuts? What about the worst Supreme Court since the Civil War? Want to claim those ugly facts for bipartisanship?
Late yesterday, Trump was in Prescott Valley to boost his crackpot candidate, Blake Masters, a full-on fascist who Trump was paid by billionaire Peter Thiel to endorse. Masters is also being backed by crypto-billionaires, twins Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, who are helping Thiel finance a sewer money SuperPAC, “Saving Arizona,” to attack Masters’ rivals. This is all great for Kelly who polling shows will beat any of the Republicans, but will beat Masters, an extremist who frightens moderate voters, with the biggest margin of all.