Once thought to be a favorite, Republican Martha McSally is slipping in the polls in Arizona. The conservative vying for Jeff Flake’s Senate seat blames her decline on her 2017 vote to repeal Obamacare.
In an interview on Sean Hannity’s radio show quoted by Raw Story, McSally said, “Well, Sean, I did vote to repeal and replace Obamacare on that House bill — I’m getting my ass kicked for it right now because it’s being misconstrued by the Democrats. They’re trying to, you know, invoke fear in people who have family members or loved ones with pre-existing conditions.”
McSally told the Arizona Republic that Democrats were assassinating her character because of her vote even though many people with pre-existing conditions are not covered by Obamacare plans due to their cost.
“Now what we have is people right now, under Obamacare, with pre-existing conditions who have no health insurance,” she said, adding that people didn’t want the “crappy insurance” created by the Affordable Care Act.
Since the Affordable Care Act was passed in 2010, Republicans have made repealing the health insurance law a priority. Public opinion was against the law for years but shifted when Republicans launched several abortive attempts to repeal and replace it last year. Current polling shows that Americans now approve of the law by an average of nine points. Democrat claims that Republicans would eliminate coverage for pre-existing conditions was a major reason for the shift.
While polling remains close in the race, momentum seems to have moved towards Democrat Kirsten Sinema in recent weeks even though Arizona typically trends Republican. Sinema was also faced with an embarrassing video a few weeks ago in which she ridiculed Arizona voters.
The Real Clear Politics average gives Sinema a lead of less than one point, but recent polls favor the Democrat by larger margins. The last poll, released yesterday, showed Sinema with a six-point lead that is outside the margin of error. The Cook Political Report and Larry Sabato still rate the race as a tossup, but FiveThirtyEight has moved the Arizona to the “lean Democrat” category, pegging McSally’s chances of winning at 38 percent.
McSally, a former Air Force fighter pilot who flew the A-10 Thunderbolt in combat in Afghanistan, has served as a Republican congressman from Arizona since 2015. She has been a strong ally of Donald Trump, voting with the president more than 97 percent of the time.
Arizona seems to be the best chance for Democrats to pick up Republican Senate seat, but, if Sinema pulls off the win, it may only be to preserve the current balance of power in the Senate. Flipping Flake’s seat would only offset the projected Republican victory over Democratic incumbent Heidi Heitkamp in North Dakota. With Democrats on the defense in most other close Senate races, it seems increasingly likely that the blue wave won’t reach the Senate, even if Arizona goes blue.
Originally published on The Resurgent
Originally published on The Resurgent
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