McSally shoots back at Sinema’s ‘dirty smear’ Senate campaign claims

PHOENIX — The U.S. Senate race in Arizona is heating up.

Just days after Rep. Kyrsten Sinema accused her Republican opponent Rep. Martha McSally of running “a campaign that’s based on lies and distortions and, frankly, dirty smears,” McSally shot back, saying she needed to run a fiery campaign because Sinema had the upper hand, funding-wise.

“We had to go through a primary and my opponent did not, she’s been on TV since April with millions of dollars in ads. We came out of that a little over a month ago,” McSally told KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Arizona’s Morning News on Thursday.

“She’s going up on TV for like a million dollars every five days, trying to drown out our message and present herself in a way that doesn’t fully present to the voters her entire life and her past and what she’s given her energy and her leadership to,” she added.

“It’s important for voters to see what the facts are as we go down this final stretch. People are voting as we speak.”

McSally and Sinema’s campaigns have flooded the airwaves in recent weeks with ads that paint the lawmakers in differing lights.

A hologram mailer from Defend Arizona, a conservative political action committee that supports McSally, recently made the rounds on social media for its controversial nature.

Going nuclear: #AZsenate mailer from Defend Arizona, a SuperPAC supporting @MarthaMcSally shows Phoenix as nuclear wasteland if @kyrstensinema wins. AZ Dem source tells me: “This is cold blooded and so, so gross.” AZ GOP source says: “Just getting started.” pic.twitter.com/BCKyAMcHnl

— Kyung Lah (@KyungLahCNN) October 9, 2018

The front of the mailer shows an image of Phoenix with the words “KYRSTEN SINEMA WON’T KEEP ARIZONA SAFE.”

When the mailer is tilted, however, it shows a mushroom cloud over the city, simulating Phoenix being targeted in a nuclear attack.

McSally distanced herself from the mailer during the Thursday interview, but did not go so far as disavowing it.

“I have nothing to do with that, as you know, and we’re not even allowed to talk to them,” McSally said.

“But the more important thing is that people need to look at the radical, dangerous record of Kyrsten Sinema in the past. I think instead of asking me about something that I have no responsibility in producing, why don’t people ask her about her record on these issues that she’s trying to cover up.”

A recent poll from ABC15/OH Predictive Insights showed McSally leading her Democratic opponent, 47 percent to 41 percent. It was one of two polls that has shown McSally ahead during the campaign season; Sinema led in 11 polls conducted since the primaries.

McSally pointed to the poll as an indication that voters are starting to turn out for her.

“The only poll that matters is when people turn in their ballots,” McSally said.

“The energy and enthusiasm has been on our side. We’ve been seeing that every single day, on the campaign trail, across the state.”

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