PHOENIX — Rep. Martha McSally is leaning on Republican interlopers across the GOP spectrum in a last-minute scramble to put her over the top on Tuesday in a seat the party is desperate to hold onto.
In the waning days of the election campaign, McSally has welcomed a host of Republicans from all factions of the party to the Sun Valley as part of her push against Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., on Tuesday.
In the final week alone, the likes of Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, the party’s pre-eminent moderate, Donald Trump Jr., the GOP’s brash newcomer, and Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, one of the foremost conservatives in elected office, appeared in support of the Arizona congresswoman in an ongoing effort to get voters to the polls.
“It’s pretty amazing, right? … I think Republicans are more unified than I’ve seen since I’ve been in this new combat zone,” McSally said in an interview. “I’ve been fighting stereotypes my whole life too, right? So don’t try to put me in a box. Don’t try and label me. We’re a big tent here.”
In just the final month, along with the three in town this week, McSally has leaned on a host of top Republicans to bank votes during the early-voting period, including President Trump, Vice President Mike Pence, Mitt Romney, the front-runner to replace Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, in next week’s Senate election, in part due to Arizona’s sizable Mormon population, and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who’s out campaigning for a cadre of Senate candidates nationwide.
“He was out here last week,” McSally said of Graham when asked about a bill he plans to introduce to end birthright citizenship. “We’re bringing everybody out.”
Former President George W. Bush also came through Arizona two weeks ago to fundraise for McSally, one of the 43rd president’s rare midterm-related moves as he tries to stay off the political grid.
The push is due to concerns that Republicans will not turn out in droves like Democratic voters are expected to and to nudge people to take advantage of the early voting period in the state, when most ballots will be cast. Much like Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, McSally has been warning GOP voters statewide against falling victim to complacency after Trump said repeatedly that a “red wave” was in the offing.
“We can’t get complacent. Happy people often are not as motivated as mad people. We’re seeing that right now with the Left,” McSally said during her rally with Trump Jr., Thursday night. “The Left is on fire.”
Collins, who campaigned alongside McSally and Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., on Wednesday, laughed when it was mentioned that she’s campaigning a day before the president’s eldest son arrived in Arizona. She argued, though, that it shows that McSally has “broad appeal” within the party.
“What that says to me is that Martha has the ability to work with people of a variety of political persuasions, and I’ve always thought the Republican Party is a big tent, and that it works well when we embrace that notion,” Collins said. She was introduced to McSally by Kyl, who both consider friends. “To me, it shows how effective she can be as a United States senator because in order to get things done in the Senate … you have to have support from both sides of the aisle.”
“Although obviously I’m a Republican and Donald Trump Jr. is as well … we’re probably on different ends of the spectrum within the Republican Party,” Collins said. “To me, that shows her broad appeal.”
The Maine Republican said that McSally is the only Republican candidate for higher office she is campaigning with ahead of Election Day, outside of state senate candidates in her home state and Rep. Bruce Poliquin, R-Maine, in the state’s 2nd Congressional District.
On the other side, Sinema has forgone the typical drop-ins from top Democratic officials, opting instead for smaller events at campaign offices across the state without surrogates. While some top Democrats, notably former President Barack Obama and former Vice President Joe Biden, have fundraised for her, neither have held public events on her behalf.
At campaign events, Sinema is the main draw. On Thursday, the Arizona Democrat held a short event to highlight support from veterans at a campaigning office in northern Phoenix before hopscotching to events Friday in Tucson.
Sinema told the Arizona Republic last month that she plans to earn “those votes myself” rather than rely on surrogates.
“Sinema is executing what they’ve been focused on from the beginning. She’s running a very Arizona-focused race. She wants to make it about Arizonans,” said one Democrat involved in Senate races. “[McSally’s] just throwing things up against the wall to see what sticks.”
During the Trump Jr. event Thursday, McSally mocked Sinema for not bringing any top-flight Democrats to town while noting all of the high-level GOP figures who have come through the state in recent weeks.
“Guess who’s coming in to support her? Uh, no one,” McSally said with a laugh. “She doesn’t want people to know she’s a Democrat. … She’s got literally nobody coming, and she’s like, ‘Oh no — stay away. Just send the money.'”
