Opinions

Did Martha McSally lose because she isn’t a conservative?

Published

1 year ago

November 13, 2018

Senator Jeff Flake is not a conservative despite the book he wrote that claims the contrary. It may have made sense to Republicans in Arizona to want someone in his mold, which is why Representative Martha McSally was nominated by the GOP. She is not a conservative, either.

It didn’t work out.

Unless there’s a miracle, Arizona just put Kyrsten Sinema in the Senate

Big questions surround this election because the race really should have gone the other way if we use conventional wisdom. Sinema was caught on multiple occasions disparaging the people she hoped to represent, calling Arizona the “meth lab of democracy.” She ran as a moderate, which is easily contradicted by both her extreme Green Party views a decade ago and her voting record in Congress. Her opponent, McSally, is a veteran who flew combat missions in Afghanistan. She truly is a moderate.

All of these factors tell us a state like Arizona should have picked McSally. Unfortunately, it appears that isn’t the case.

That was written this morning. Since then, McSally has conceded the race.

Did Republicans fail by not putting a conservative in the running? They had Kelli Ward, who my colleague recommended before the primaries.

Conservative Picks for the Arizona Primary

Kelli Ward looks to finally claim a senate seat. After failing against John McCain with an impressive 39.6% of the vote, she had a chance in a soon to be vacant seat. It was hers for the taking until Joe Arpaio entered the race and basically split her voting base. This gives the race to Martha McSally, an obvious RINO, who will take after John McCain. Joe Arpaio took a page right out of John Kasich’s playbook. Kelli Ward invited a lot of skepticism early on, but she has proven to be the most conservative candidate. She is willing to deviate from Trump, but from the right.

Many Republicans had reservations about Ward’s erratic behavior. The entry of Joe Arpaio didn’t help her chances. Given the importance of the Senate, why didn’t the state put up a true conservative with winning power? To answer that question, let’s consider what being conservative really means?

Is President Trump a conservative? Many of his policies seem conservative. A handful, such as avoiding entitlement reform, raising the national debt, and pushing “fair trade” through tariffs while giving lip service to free trade are some of the exceptions. But his other policies seem to align properly with a conservative mindset.

To see where other politicians stand, we turn to Conservative Review. Their Liberty Score isn’t perfect, but it’s as close as anyone has come to giving proper grades to politicians based on their voting history. How did McSally and Sinema, who are both in the House of Representatives until their replacements are sworn in. Let’s look at their Liberty Scores.

Arizona Liberty Score

Sinema scored a “F” with a 9% Liberty Score. In fact, she was the furthest to the left of all Arizonans on Capitol Hill. But McSally also scored a “F” at 36%. She was far below even Flake, who landed a “D” with a Liberty Score of 62%.

We supported McSally in the general election because Sinema is a far-left socialist, but we weren’t happy about it. When will Republicans wake up and treat red states like red states by putting true conservatives on the ballot?