While I had hoped Dr. Kelli Ward would be the Republican candidate for Arizona’s U.S. Senate seat, it looks like Senator John McCain is immune from “anti-incumbent fever” and handily won Tuesday’s primary battle.
U.S. Sen. John McCain beat back a primary challenge Tuesday from a Republican tea party activist to win the right to seek a sixth Senate term in November, clearing an important hurdle in a race that was inundated with questions about GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump.The 2008 GOP presidential nominee easily defeated former state Sen. Kelli Ward and two other Republicans on the ballot.He faces a tough Democratic challenge in the November general election from U.S. Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick. She advanced Tuesday after facing only a write-in opponent in the primary.
I don’t know if the November battle will be all that challenging, as indicated by a glimpse of the RealClearPolitics poll summary.
The fight for the newly open U.S. House of Representatives seat that Kirkpatrick is vacating was more robust:
A wild GOP primary campaign in Kirkpatrick’s open district has ensued. There are six candidates. The most competitive are Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu, Air Force veteran Wendy Rogers, former Arizona Secretary of State Ken Bennett, and Ken Giehne, who was Kirkpatrick’s opponent in 2014.
At the time of this report, the votes were still being tallied and Paul Babeu was up by a couple of thousand votes over his closest challenger, Wendy Rogers.
Living in California, my choice for U.S. Senator will be between an ultra-progressive Democratic Attorney General who wants to punish climate change deniers and a poorly funded Democratic Congresswoman who doesn’t have glamor or political connections. Two guesses as to which one is currently way ahead in the polls, and the first one doesn’t count.
So, I will be living vicariously through other national races. I was hoping that Arizonans would give McCain a much earned retirement at this point, and opt for new Senator with fresh ideas and the will to fight for real change.
Alas, it is not to be. Good thing I have gotten used to living with political disappointment in the past 8 years.
Now, I am going to have to look around for another Senate race to adopt for November’s election. Any suggestions?
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