Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) gave a blunt assessment of his party on border security, saying that it is “not even close” to reckoning with the complexity and significance of the issue.
Postulating that Republicans appear keen on retaining the issue as a political cudgel to use against the Democrats, Kelly explained that he fights to make progress on beefing up security regardless of how incremental the changes are while trying not to “demonize” people.
MIDTERM RESULTS: DEMOCRAT MARK KELLY DEFEATS BLAKE MASTERS IN ARIZONA SENATE RACE
“Absolutely not. Not even close. When I first got to Washington, it didn’t take me long to realize that there are a lot of Democrats who don’t understand our southern border and a lot of Republicans who just want to talk about it. Don’t necessarily want to do anything about it, just want to use it politically,” he told the Washington Post in an interview.
Border woes were a frequent line of attack from Kelly’s Republican foe Blake Masters in the midterm election race that Kelly won. Throughout the contest, Masters sought to caricaturize Kelly as a puppet for the Biden administration, which prompted Kelly to distance himself from the Democratic president at times.
Encounters at the border topped a record-breaking 2.4 million encounters during the last fiscal year. Kelly recounted how many of his Republican colleagues even in states that aren’t at the border such as Mississippi, Alabama, and Tennessee similarly have to grapple with the ramifications stemming from the influx of immigrants. He also expressed optimism Congress will make progress on the issue.
“I continue to talk to my Republican colleagues about how we have to do more. We have to do more in border security,” he continued. “I’ll tell you what, I think there are enough of us who understand it and want to accomplish something.”
Arizona has been home to a culture clash of sorts within the GOP, with many election deniers or MAGA sycophants rising to positions of prominence within the state and pushing back against the old guard of the late Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and Jeff Flake (R-AZ). Kelly contended that the GOP hard-liners aren’t representative of the majority of the party.
“That is not most of the Republicans. That is a minority of Republicans in the state of Arizona, who are rather vocal and who very effectively got into certain positions of leadership,” he told the outlet. “I meet a lot more Republicans who are reasonable, moderate, realize that we have challenges and problems that we need to solve.”
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A once seemingly ruby-red state, Arizona has exhibited a purple flare in recent election cycles, now having two Democratic senators and set to swear in a Democratic governor. In light of his party’s gains in the state, Kelly raised concerns about the current viability of the GOP.
“This will probably surprise you to hear this from somebody who’s a United States senator who’s a Democrat, but we need a strong Republican Party in Arizona,” he added. “I think the two-party system that we have, we’ve got a set of checks and balances against each other and I think that’s important to have that.”
