Mark Kelly discusses Arizona GOP email, Sinema censure on ‘The View’

PHOENIX — U.S. Senate candidate Mark Kelly addressed a controversial fundraising email targeted at him by Arizona’s GOP and a potential censure vote against Sen. Kyrsten Sinema during a Wednesday interview on the ABC talk show “The View.”

The Democrat said Republican Chairwoman Kelli Ward should have been more careful with her language in an email sent earlier this month that said “we’ll stop gun-grabber Mark Kelly dead in his tracks.”

Kelly became a gun control advocate after his wife and then-U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords survived a 2011 shooting in Tucson that killed six and injured more than a dozen.

“It’s very political and I think she had a purpose behind saying that. I think we can all do better than that,” Kelly said about the email. “There’s no place for that in our political discourse, but that’s outside of my control.”

Sen. Martha McSally, who will likely face off against Kelly next year for the seat vacated after John McCain’s death, has already distanced herself from Ward’s email.

“I don’t agree with Mark Kelly,” McSally told KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Mac & Gaydos. “I think he’s out of step with Arizona on this issue, but those are definitely the words that I would not have used.”

Kelly also didn’t agree with the Arizona Democratic Party’s plans for a possible censure vote of Sinema, a moderate.

The state party’s Progressive Caucus is disappointed with some of Sinema’s recent votes, such as voting to confirm President Donald Trump’s choice for attorney general, William Barr.

She also did not support a bill that would have restored net neutrality rules.

“I think independence from the political party is so important,” Kelly said. “I didn’t think that [the censure resolution] was a very appropriate thing to do.”

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