A Republican senator who is fighting to save her seat in Congress is being criticized for asking her supporters to “fast a meal” so they can send a little extra money to her reelection campaign.
During an appearance in Northern Arizona recently, Sen. Martha McSally told supporters they should consider skipping a meal if it meant helping her defeat Democratic challenger Mark Kelly, who is leading by 7 percentage points in the polls, according to RealClearPolitics.
“We’re doing our part to catch up, you know, to get our message out. But it takes resources. So, anybody can give, I’m not ashamed to ask, to invest. If you can give a dollar, five dollars, if you can fast a meal and give what that would be,” McSally told the audience in audio obtained by the outlet Arizona Family.
McSally’s campaign said she was joking and called the verbal misstep a “non-story” that is being used to paint McSally unfairly ahead of the November election.
“This is a dumb non-story about a candidate making a joke on the stump,” a representative for the McSally campaign said.
McSally’s name was trending on Twitter Saturday morning as critics piled on to voice their displeasure with the senator’s remarks, which they called “sick” at a time when people across the country are struggling economically because of the coronavirus pandemic.
