Get to know Martha McSally, the Republican vying for the free seat of the Senate of Arizona

Martha McSally likes to make comparisons between the election campaign and her time spent in the air force.

She uses militaristic language in her speeches, comparing parts of the campaign to air wars and ground wars, and evoking her current "deployment" in Washington.

And now, she is in the battle to win the Arizona Senate Open Seat, which many see as a crucial election that could determine which party controls the Senate.

McSally, 52, sees headquarters as a potential and essential form of protection for President Donald Trump's program.

"I'm really the firewall to ensure we retain and increase the majority in the Senate, so it's a major issue for our country," McSally told ABC News in early October.

Given the tight nature of the race against the Democratic representative Kyrsten Sinema and recent polls conducted across the state, the race being in the margin of error, it seems that the stakes could not be higher .

Patriotic background

Kenneth Lambert, file / photo AP

Born in Rhode Island, the youngest of a family of five, McSally has had a hard time growing up, her father having died while she was young.

"In 24 hours, when I was 12 years old, everything changed … We went from a day spent with his family, to a malaise, to going to the hospital." He had a crisis heart, "she said during her primary night acceptance speech.

She cited her father, who served in the navy, and his promise to make him proud of the driving role that motivated his military career.

McSally joined the Air Force, working for more than two decades to become the first female combat pilot in the country to serve in combat.

Before embarking on politics, a rather early political battle occurred when she sued the Department of Defense and challenged the policy of then recommending American women to wear a traditional abaya covering the during their stay in Saudi Arabia.

"I call it the battle of the burka," said McSally in her keynote address, pointing out that she's been fighting for her "because I've been raised to believe that a woman should be treated on an equal footing and that it is impossible to restrain a girl. "

The policy was changed in 2002, so that military women are no longer needed, but encouraged to wear an abaya out of the base, although a spokesman for Central Command said that this does not happen. was not the result of the lawsuit but that it had already been "in progress". review."

She was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel in 2004 and retired from active duty in 2010.

His military experience played a leading role in his latest political campaign. Trump stressed his service in an email that he had sent to his supporters before campaigning for her in Arizona.

But he is also present in the details, such as the silver pendant of a plane A-10 "Warthog", the model that she piloted at her service, which she wore during the debate alone of the Senate race.

"I have and [have] I've always been true to myself and have spent my life serving our great country, "she said in her keynote address.

Incursion into politics

Nicole Neri / Reuters

After a failed bid for a seat in the House of Commons in 2012, McSally ran and won the 2014 race in the 2nd Congressional District of Arizona, a traditionally Democratic district on the southern border of the United States. Arizona. It was a very close race. A recount has declared McSally the winner by 167 votes.

She was re-elected in her district, which includes parts of Tuscon, in 2016 and decided to run for Senate seat left vacant by Senator Jeff Flake's decision not to seek re-election.

Flake said, notably during a recent appearance on "The View", that he felt that he could not win a Republican primary in his home country as a Trump's criticism was one of the reasons he did not run again.

Trump's support played a disproportionate role in the primary, where McSally regularly praised his work with the president as she tried to fight two conservative Republican confreres, former Sheriff Joe Arpaio and former state senator Kelli Ward.

McSally won the primary with 52.9% of the vote and received the coveted tweet of Trump's approval after the confirmation of the results.

Great stakes and talkers of the race

McSally relied on his experience – both as a member of the military service and as a congressman for a border district – during the campaign by talking about topics such as immigration, problems border and the army.

She also spoke regularly about her dedication to veterans, although links with the military were a topic of discussion for the McSally and Sinema campaigns.

Health care, and Obamacare in particular, have become an important part of the Arizona breed, with both parties accusing the other of adopting either a wrong approach or voting against conditions. preexisting.

Although voters are the focus of concern, the announcements of frequent and overwhelming negative attacks have also colored the race.

McSally drew one of the most memorable commercials of the campaign. She pointed out how Sinema protested against the war in Iraq with a pink tutu while McSally was in uniform.

Since then, McSally has embarked on excerpts from interviews and old speeches in which Sinema describes as "crazy Arizona", thus comparing Arizona to a "methamphetamine lab of democracy" and suggesting, as part of of a hypothetical exchange, if the Americans joined the Taliban. Another weak spot of the campaign came when a political action committee that supports McSally sent a mail to voters suggesting that Phoenix could be the target of a nuclear bomb if Sinema won the victory.

Sinema swept aside the negative ads, asserting in their debate that McSally's claim that Sinema made a declaration of treason was "ridiculous".

"Martha has chosen to lead a campaign … in which she is making ridiculous attacks and spreading my campaign," Sinema said.

Big names on the track

Ralph Freso / Getty Images

After the August 28th primary, McSally had a series of renowned Republicans who moved to support his candidacy.

Trump has featured several events in this state, complementing it with a rally. On the same day, former President George W. Bush organized an in-camera fundraiser for her in Arizona. Less than a week later, Vice President Mike Pence rallied for McSally in Yuma and Senator Lindsey Graham, R-S., Came to join her on the weekend.

While national names are inevitably useful for an election campaign, it is the voters on the ground who really matter, and the polls have been exceptionally clear throughout.

The latest NBC News / Marist poll, published on Tuesday, shows that McSally is six points behind Sinema, although it is still within the margin of error.

While McSally presented herself as a conservative supporting Trump and her opponent as a far-left radicalist, an analysis of their records draws a less extreme picture, at least from Sinema's side.

According to ABC News' 538 partner, Sinema voted with the Trump administration the highest percentage of all Democrats in Arizona, 60.9 percent of the time, including legislation that provoked Liberal anger, such as effort to reduce certain parts of the banking sector. Bill Dodd-Frank.

That said, the same congressional observer reports that McSally voted with Trump in 97.8% of cases.

McSally defended Trump's support for ABC News in early October.

"This is a historic opportunity to build partnerships with the President to advance opportunities and ensure the security of our country, which is what Arizona wants and I will continue to do in the Senate," he said. she said.