Will this feisty
conservative doctor unseat John McCain? Senator battles 'well-educated, well-spoken, down-to-earth,
Constitution-loving woman', by Greg Corombos, 2/20/16, WND
To win a sixth term in
the U.S. Senate, John McCain faces the gauntlet of battling a feisty
conservative challenger just to get to a November showdown with the Democrats’
top recruit for the race.
McCain, who will turn 80
the day before the Aug. 30 primary, was first elected in 1986. But while he is
among the best-known senators and a one-time Republican presidential nominee,
the senator may no longer be the toast of his own constituents.
“Arizona deserves to
have a Republican senator who represents their values. We aren’t getting that
right now,” said Dr. Kelli Ward, an osteopathic physician and a former Arizona
state senator, who says the disgust voters are expressing for Washington on the
presidential campaign trail is also palpable in her state.
“They’re looking to
change the status quo in Washington, D.C.,” Ward told WND and Radio America.
“Truly the only way we can do that is by changing the people we send there. We
can’t keep sending the same people back and expect a different result.”
The 47-year-old Ward won
a special election to the state senate in 2012. She won re-election unopposed
in 2014, but resigned the seat in December to focus on the U.S. Senate race.
She said the list of
reasons McCain needs to be retired is long and clear. “Just in the last few
years, he voted for tax hikes, he voted for bailouts, he voted for massive new
spending. He voted for amnesty. He voted for liberal judges. That’s on
everyone’s mind right now,” Ward said. “He mocked the conservatives who wanted
to stop Obamacare, calling Sen. Cruz, Sen. Paul and Sen. Lee ‘wacko birds.’
He’s voted 15 times to increase the debt ceiling.”
She wasn’t done.
“He’s supported the
Democrats’ efforts to infringe on our Second Amendment rights,” she said. “He’s
been willing to bend the Constitution regarding our Fourth Amendment privacy
rights. The list goes on and on and on.”
How would Ward be
different?
"I'm a
small-government Republican," she said. "I want smaller government,
lower taxes, less regulation, a strong defense and a strong military. I want
personal responsibility across the board, and I want us to get back to
following our Constitution."
Ward said her brief time
in the state senate is proof that she's not just talk on these issues. "Last
year, I was able to get 19 bills signed into law, common-sense bills that did
shrink the size of government that lowered our taxes that took the heavy hand
of government off the heads of small businesses and let them thrive.
"I worked on
welfare reform, health-care reform, education reform, all of those things I
want to take to Washington. I also stood up to my party at times and to the
executive branch at other times."
She offered a recent
example of how she rebuffed GOP Gov. Doug Ducey. "He sent me some nominees
for the state board of education when I was the education chair. They were
unacceptable to me and to the people I represented because they were pro-Common
Core," said Ward, vowing to bring that same level of scrutiny to federal
nominations if elected to the U.S. Senate.
Whether Ward has a
decent shot at beating McCain depends upon which poll you view. Late last
summer, a Gravis Marketing survey showed Ward leading McCain 45-36 percent and
both of them ahead of likely Democrat nominee Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick. In that
poll, McCain led Kirkpatrick 48-35 percent, while Ward held a 43-38 percent
edge.
However, a new Rocky
Mountain Poll has McCain with a commanding 47-11 lead over Ward. It also shows
him in a statistical dead heat with Kirkpatrick with just a 38-37 margin. The
Rocky Mountain Poll did not ask about a potential Ward-Kirkpatrick match-up.
Many more polls will
emerge in the coming months to flesh out the state of the race. For her part,
Ward believes she presents unique problems for McCain.
"Senator McCain has
never faced a well-educated, well-spoken, down-to-earth, Constitution-loving
woman," she said. "It is going to be very difficult for him,
especially in this time of upset with career politicians and the political
elite ruling over us, rather than allowing us to have government of, by, and
for the people."
But this is not just
about unseating McCain. Ward is also confident she could keep the seat in GOP
hands if she advances to face Kirkpatrick in November. "She votes with
Barack Obama nearly 100 percent of the time," Ward
said. "Arizona is still a conservative state, so I don't think Ann
Kirkpatrick will fare very well against me, a constitutional female."
Listen
to the WND/Radio America interview with Dr. Kelli Ward:
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