AZ Senate Candidate Kelli Ward: McCain Family Statement Meant to Hurt My Campaign

In a Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2017 photo, former Republican Arizona state Sen. Kelli Ward smiles as she is greeted by supporters at a campaign fundraiser, in Scottsdale, Ariz. Ward was expected to run against Republican U.S. Sen. Jeff Flake in the Arizona 2018 primary, but Flake has bowed out of a re-election, announcing his retirement on Tuesday. Flake's decision to bow out of a re-election fight could spur a rush of other Republican candidates who hope to take on his only announced challenger in the Arizona primary next year. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

More than once, Kelli Ward, Republican candidate for U.S. Senate from Arizona, has shown her absolute lack of judgment and class.

On Saturday, Ward had the nerve to publicly contemplate whether the statement issued on Friday from the McCain family, regarding the senator’s desire to end treatment for brain cancer, was an attempt to hurt her campaign. It was only a few hours after her suggestion that John McCain passed away, leaving a legacy of service to his country.

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Ward wrote on Facebook that “I think they wanted to have a particular narrative that they hope is negative to me.”

Her comment was made under a Facebook post by one of her campaign staffers, who questioned if it was “just a coincidence” that the McCain family released the statement the same day that Ward was kicking off her campaign bus tour, “or if it was a plan to take media attention off her campaign?”

Not long after her comment, she attempted to repair the damage done by noting her prayers and concern for his family. But she had already shown her true colors.

Ward has never been a fan of the late Senator McCain, who beat her easily in the 2016 primary. She is also an uncritical supporter of President Trump (a self-described “brave” soldier in his personal Vietnam: an STD war), who has made his own classless statements about McCain’s experience as a POW: “He’s not a war hero. I like people who weren’t captured.”

Ward has allied herself with one of the right’s most despicable characters, alt-right/white nationalist darling and conspiracy theorist, Mike Cernovich. Instead of caring about her association with someone of ill repute, she went ahead and toured the state with him because, well, he has an audience.

In addition, Ward enlisted the help of the foolish Tomi Lahren. The former Blaze employee, current FOX News darling, and fan of throwing pro-lifers under the bus is no conservative role model. Naturally, Lahren, another GOP female who also lacks any shred of wisdom, joined in attacking Senator McCain on the very day the family’s announcement came. And it did not go unnoticed.

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This woman has no sense. She does not belong in the United States Senate. Thankfully, she probably won’t get there. According to the latest polling, candidate Martha McSally is in the lead as we approach Tuesday’s GOP primary.

McSally was polling at 48.1 percent in results released Thursday by Phoenix-based consulting firm Data Orbital, more than doubling the 22.1 percent of her nearest rival, former state Sen. Dr. Kelli Ward.

And disgraceful, power-abusing, pardoned criminal Joe Arpaio is in last.

Meanwhile, former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio was bringing up the rear, as he has been the entire race, although he pulled closer to Ward with 17.6 percent.

I can’t think of a better place for ‘ol Sheriff Joe.

Kelli Ward represents the Trumpian wing of the Republican Party. That faction is focused on praising the president, no matter what, and demeaning his enemies, even if it means doing so while they lay on their death bed. Decent human beings do not stoop to such lows.

Even if it is a chosen profession of service, there is much more to life than politics. On Saturday, when the news of Senator John McCain’s death was announced, tributes poured in for the man who endured much physical, emotional, and mental pain during his lifetime.

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You don’t have to agree with all he said or did, but you should respect his costly sacrifice.

Kelli Ward has shown that she is incapable of honoring an American hero while they lay dying. In return, I hope Arizonans hand her a defeat on Tuesday. It’s the least they could do.

Kimberly Ross is a senior contributor at RedState and a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog. Follow her on Twitter and Facebook.

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