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PRESCOTT, Arizona – Martha McSally was speaking Thursday in front of a group of veterans about the aggressive Liberal policy when she suddenly transferred the conversation to Kyrsten Sinema, her Democratic opponent in the race for the Senate seat. "Speaking of treason, his extreme views are out of step"
It was a somewhat clumsy replica. But that also seems to be Ms. McSally's closing argument.
Ms. McSally, a Republican congressman, uses an unusual tactic during the final stages of one of the country's most watched Senate races, bowing to a shocking assertion she's made when she goes to school. A debate this week: the years of Ms. Sinema's response A radio host comment about joining the Taliban was a crime against the state.
Just two weeks ago, Ms. McSally appeared to be losing ground in her battle with Phoenix Democrat House Member Ms. Sinema for the vacancy left by outgoing Republican Jeff Flake.
While Ms. McSally spent the summer defeating Joe Arpaio, the former fire sheriff, and Kelli Ward, an ultra-conservative osteopath, Ms. Sinema, with no real main opponent, led a series of pretty commercials centered on her childhood poor and Congress record bipartisanship.
Since then, Ms. McSally has remained largely in primary mode, remaining faithful to President Trump's taffy – which has won the state much less weight than Mitt Romney in 2012 – and casting criticism at Ms. Sinema, who has largely reacted with the sunny disposition of a hotel employee facing a customer challenging a charge.
While Arizona voters start voting early, Ms. McSally, 52, brings reinforcements: Former President George W. Bush is organizing a fundraiser for her Friday in Scottsdale, and Mr. Trump plans to be part of the Mesa gathering Republican voters in the evening.
The polls that showed Ms. Sinema an advantage narrowed or even gave Ms. McSally a slight advantage in recent days. "Until last week, I would have certainly said that Sinema was in the lead," said Paul Bentz, policy advisor and pollster for Phoenix. "Now things are closing."
The race – which will host Arizona's first female senator – is one of the country's most expensive Senate competitions, with endless announcements stopping football games and radio sales featuring scorpion disposal services.
Over the last few days, Ms. McSally seems to have gained ground by focusing on Ms. Sinema's past. Ms. McSally's supporters have discovered an old photo of Ms. Sinema she had protested against the war in Iraq as a law student in 2002 and a video of her mocking her home country as a "methamphetamine lab of democracy" while She sat in the legislature of that state. They also uncovered a 2003 radio interview given by Ms. Sinema, expressing her indifference – "I m", she said, at the provocation of a radio host hypothetical membership of the Taliban.
Ms. McSally, a former US Air Force fighter pilot, relied on the Taliban's commentary and said in this week's debate that Ms. Sinema's position amounted to "treason", paw so clear that it has become a national news.
"It's not just a choice between a protester and a patriot," Ms. McSally said at a Prescott Republican women's meeting, highlighting her own deployments several times with her "badass plane." Ms. Sinema "is doing a good job of it, classic liberal anti-military stuff," she added.
Recalling her colleagues who died in Afghanistan, Ms. McSally was strangled. "It's extremely personal," she said.
Ms. Sinema generally did not bite on the hook.
"Martha chose a very low road," Ms. Sinema said at an event in Scottsdale this week with her supporters. "It's his choice." She insists that she has a common base for all parties: "The people of Arizona know that I share their values."
This state seems to tolerate the change of form. Sen. John McCain, who passed away this year, took over his long-standing positions on issues such as immigration in a difficult year and voted with Democrats to preserve the right to health care in a difficult year. other. (Mr. Flake refused to go back on his criticism of Mr. Trump and found himself in an unsustainable situation.)
Ms. Sinema and Ms. McSally, who are both alternative districts, have themselves transformed their societies. Ms. Sinema has grown from a fairly partisan member of the state legislature to one of the most centrist Democrats in the House.
Ms. McSally, whose independent approach to Mr. Trump extended to not revealing whether she voted for him, was also considered a moderate reflecting the complexion of his mixed district. But since then, she has become a firm supporter of Trump, although she said this week that she did not agree with Trump's description of an adult movie star as "a horse ".
Arizona, a Republican stronghold for decades, has tended to purple slowly and steadily over the past decade, like a pair of white socks washed repeatedly in a load of colors.
Hispanics now make up 31% of the state's population, and independent voters, many of whom have emigrated from other states in recent years, have fueled growth in the region.
Yet Democrats have largely failed to capitalize on demographic change. The party has not won a seat in the Senate since Dennis DeConcini's last race in 1988, nor has it been a statewide run since 2008, and in fact lost ground in 2010.
Ms. Sinema, elected to the House of Commons in 2012, was widely seen by both parties as the best place to move forward.
In Congress, she formed alliances with some of the most conservative Republicans – including South Carolina's Trey Gowdy representative – and she gained popularity with Republicans of the state for her moderately moderate positions and her steady influence. . She voted with her Republican colleagues about 60% of the time.
She refused to support liberal positions such as the elimination of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, as opposed to the Democratic nominee for the governorship, David Garcia, a professor in the state of Arizona who fell behind Governor Doug Ducey. Her commercials do not even mention she's a Democrat – because she's not "proud of parties," she told an Arizona radio interviewer, adding, "I'm proud of the Arizonan. "
Ms. McSally recently said, "We have moderate Republicans who seemed to have drunk Kyrsten Sinema's Kool-Aid in the polls and we need to take them home. "
The commercials of Mrs. McSally and her supporters are constantly negative and very accusing, which is an excellent play, but which could hurt her eyes in the general election. "There are not enough voters for her to mobilize to win," said Kim Fridkin, professor of political science at Arizona State University.
But Ms. Sinema faces the traditional hurdles for Democrats in this state. Republicans continue to enjoy an advantage in registration and registration even though independents remain an important part of the electorate, and Ms Sinema has to woo some to win.
Even though Ms. McSally would likely not find any success with attacks on Ms. Sinema on issues such as health care – the law on health care enjoys considerable support in the state, particularly among Older voters – Republicans generally found that national security was a more effective line of attack. Indeed, like many Republicans this year, Ms. McSally worked hard to reconcile her position in favor of insurance companies covering pre-existing illnesses with her vote for a bill that would have put her end this practice.
Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh's confirmation hearings have energized Republicans around the world; his picture was at the center of the Prescott Republican women's meeting.
Ms. Sinema's best hope of breaking the long-running Democrats' defeat in Arizona is to rack up money in the pockets of Democrats, minimize its losses in rural areas, and win large swathes of Maricopa County, including Phoenix. , with the help of some of his Republicans.
"The biggest question at three weeks of the election," said Bentz, the pollster, "is who can close his campaign with a real call to independent and unaffiliated voters and Republican women to win . "
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