AZ Political Podcast: Jay Feely makes his case for representing Arizona’s diverse CD1

Republican Jay Feely didn’t call his opponent in Arizona’s 1st Congressional District, Dr. Amish Shah, a democratic socialist — but Feely did pretty much tell me on the AZ Political Podcast that Shah looks, walks and quacks an awful lot like one.

And Feely says it’s “on him to say ‘I don’t believe in those policies.’ He hasn’t done it.”

Feely points to Shah campaigning with, and for, Bernie Sanders and having “donated to these groups that advocate for those very policies … well over $30,000 to these groups and you articulate for these groups … the policies that those groups advocate for” as evidence of Shah’s socialist walking and quacking.

But here’s something that’s nice to hear as we head into what will surely be a hard-fought fall in CD1: Despite saying that Shah should own up to his alleged socialism, Feely doesn’t go as far as many Republicans in criticizing the people behind the policies.

Feely believes that the Democratic Party policies that he sees as being ineffective — or even making the problem worse — are born with good intent. That’s far different from many in the GOP whom I’ve heard suggest that Democratic Party policies are designed to destroy America.

Jay Feely reflects on Republican primary CD1 election

Feely has no desire to get personal or down-and-dirty in the general election. He got enough of that in the primary.

He explains: “In the primaries … you’re running against people that have similar beliefs, so it becomes very personal because if they’re gonna beat you, they’re gonna knock you down.” And he says he had to laugh because “right before the primary I was ‘not a true Republican,’ I was a ‘gun grabber,’ I was a ‘Bill Clinton lover’ … and then as soon as I win the primary, now I’m a MAGA extreme! You know, which one is it?”

I will leave “how MAGA” Jay Feely is up to you, but when I asked him if he was trying to distance himself from President Trump’s endorsement (which helped him win the primary but might be a liability in the general election), Feely said: “I think what voters want most of all is transparency. So, they don’t want you to be one way in the primary and then shift and be a different person with different ideals in the general. They want somebody who’s gonna be honest about ‘Hey, this is who I am.’

Jay Feely calls Trump friendship ‘one of the advantages that I have’

“So, I’m not gonna try to pretend that President Trump didn’t give me an endorsement and that we haven’t been friends for the last two decades.”

In fact, Feely sees that friendship as an advantage — especially when his viewpoints differ from the president’s.

“I’ve talked to him about water over the last month … saying ‘this isn’t a fair [Colorado River] deal for Arizona when the Upper Basin and those states aren’t willing to make cuts’ and trying to really advocate for our state.

“One of the advantages that I have is the ability to go and communicate with our president and talk to him because we have a friendship.”

A friendship, by the way, that was founded and fostered around golf — which is also something that serves as a sign that you can take the athlete out of the fight but you can’t take the fight out of the athlete: Jay Feely says he always tries to win when he plays the president — fighting spirit that could serve Feely well between now and Nov. 3.

The AZ Political Podcast is available at KTAR.com, the KTAR News app and everywhere you get your podcasts.

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