Dr. Kelli Ward had a campaign appearance in Yuma on Saturday night. Yuma is a conservative, military and agriculture town. She’s running in the Republican primary for the Senate seat being vacated by the retirement of US Senator Jeff Flake. Yuma was the last stop at the end of a whirlwind bus tour around the state.
I was there and asked Dr. Ward about gun issues beyond the usual “I support the Second Amendment” boilerplate.
I arrived before 6 p.m. and ran into many of the local political activists. There was significant media presence as well. I spoke with a reporter from Japan who works out of New York City.
It was clear from the turnout that Dr. Ward is getting much more attention this year than she did in 2016 when she challenged incumbent Senator John McCain for the nomination. I had attended a similar rally in 2016 and the attendance then was about a quarter of what it was at this rally.
Ward has grown as a candidate in two years. Her manner was polished and she had a strong command of the issues. She was able to bring the crowd to its feet in standing ovations. The campaign stop reminded me of what I have seen at Trump rallies in miniature form. The enthusiasm of the crowd was high and contagious.
A big difference from 2016 is the enormous amount of media ads running in opposition to Dr. Ward in this election cycle. It’s one of the worst cases of taking words out of context and creating a false image that I have seen in Arizona. All of which is legal under the First Amendment, as I explained to the Japanese reporter.
The contrast of the upbeat, enthusiastic campaign to the negative radio ads that bombarded me from the car radio was startling. Will Dr. Ward be able to survive the combination of attacks by the McCain machine, the McConnell establishment, and dominant media bias? If she does, it will show how much the media has lost its ability to shape the narrative.
Near the end of the event, I asked Dr. Ward if she supported national carry reciprocity, and her position on the Hearing Protection Act.
She knew about both issues and told me that she supported both bills. She said a person should be able to exercise their Second Amendment rights anywhere in the country, which is why she supported national reciprocity.
She reminded me that as an Arizona state senator, she had authored a bill to decriminalize suppressors before the HPA was introduced into the U.S. Senate. Her bill would have removed Arizona’s bans on suppressors, short barreled rifles and short barreled shotguns, and nun-chucks. It was a common-sense reform of Arizona’s weapons laws.
Dr. Ward is the most Second Amendment-friendly candidate in the race for the Senate (her opponents are US Rep. Martha McSally and Sheriff Joe Arpaio) and would represent Second Amendment supporters far better than either Flake or former Senator McCain.
Her opponents’ supporters claim Dr. Ward is less likely to beat the eventual Democrat candidate in the November election. That remains to be seen. Her opponents for the nomination have raised more money so far. Keeping your political independence from Washington kingmakers has a price.
If Dr. Ward is able to gain the Republican nomination, she will show a level of grass-roots support that makes it plausible for her to beat the Democrat nominee in November.
©2018 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.
She also supports private ownership of full auto. Already gave her money. Every Republican in Arizona needs to vote for her tomorrow.
Yes sir NANASHI , I absolutely agree. Donate . vote for Kelli Ward.
You go win Dr Ward !! As for Joe Arpaio , everyone I know think he is a rotten turd. As for what’s her face : Martha McSally , well she is a turd also. We have too many COMMIE LEFTISTS in what once was a great country. We need a good cleansing of libtards , Leftards , anyone that has no respect for our constitutional RIGHTS should find an island for all the snowflakes to live happily ever after on.
‘Dr. Ward is the most Second Amendment-friendly candidate in the race for the Senate (her opponents are US Rep. Martha McSally and Sheriff Joe Arpaio) and would represent Second Amendment supporters far better than either Flake or former Senator McCain.”
McSally has been a disappointment from a Constitutional stand point. Wouldn’t mind if Arizona’s next U S senators were Ward and Arpaio so much better than the McStain and Flake they have had for representatives. Now in Vermont if we could retire two others Leaky Leahy and the Burnmeister the nation as a whole would improve.
I really wish Sheriff Joe had not run. He and Ward are splitting the conservative vote, allowing McSally to swoop in and ride the RINO vote to victory. I fear McSally will be the new Flake.
That sounds right. AZ has a plurality primary system, which means that whomever gets the most votes wins. You don’t have to win a majority and you don’t have to deal with a runnoff election.
If by some fluke Ward pulls off an upset, she’ll self-destruct in the general election. She’s already palling around with that kook Mike Cernovich. When busted, she claimed she didn’t know his views and his background. Either she’s lying or she’s being honest. Either way, that doesn’t look good for her campaign.
ward is just awful. She’s not very bright and a borderline loon. She might be on the right side on the 2A but she is so nutty, she doesn’t help the cause.
She absolutely will get destroyed in the general election if she’s the nominee. She got thumped by McCain in the primary in ’16, it’s likely McSally will beat her this time.
She needs to get lost, she’s not someone who we want on our side.
The Hearing Protection Act was placed inside with the S.H.A.R.E. (Sportsman’s Hearing and Recreational Enhancement) Act. As of 17 September 2017, the last time anyone from the US House of Representatives bothered to actually read it, was never Voted On. And STILL remains buried somewhere within the US House of Representative…
I enjoyed both of my visits to Yuma. Both times involved repairing an A6E Intruders on cross country exercises. Good times.
Kelly Ward just stepped into a big pile of poop with her statement about John McCain announcing that he is ending his cancer treatment just to mess with her campaign. After his death she walked back the statement, however it has already created a firestorm, and the primary is tomorrow. Gov. Ducey will announce McCain’s replacement after his funeral next week.
Only that is not what she said.
She was asked if the campaign and media might have timed the announcement to harm her campaign. She said it was a possibility.
“According to screenshots of the conversation posted on Twitter by Arizona political reporters, the aide, Jonathan Williams, wondered if it was “just a coincidence” that the announcement of McCain ending medical treatment came the day Ward was launching a statewide bus tour, her big push before Tuesday’s primary.
Ward replied: “I think they wanted to have a particular narrative that is negative to me.”
Jeff Flake calls himself a Libertarian correct? Reason magazine calls him a Libertarian. What did he do if anything for gun civil rights? A serious question. I really don’t know.
Nothing, that is the point.
Libertarians save the right/Hoppe wing are all about “muh weed, LOL”, “muh drugs”, “muh degeneracy”, “muh blanket slate”, “muh open borders” asshattery that is just a front for the cheap labor lobby or the leftist wanting to import hordes of alien voters.
Yeah…The Libertarian Party ISN’T what it used to be after backing “Crazy-F***, Gary Johnson., and Ex-Governor, & M–Assachusetts RINO/ Weld…” Weld definitely wasn’t a PRO2@ supporter…And like current M–Assachusetts RINO Governor/ Charlie ‘the Barker’ Baker…IS a friend of the DemoCommies, helped take a shit on the constitutional rights of all residents and has done nothing in the way of reforming dranconian anti 2nd Amendment laws…
John q public
I know I bash Libertarians on this website pretty good. But before I unload on somebody I’d like to know the facts about them. My suspicions about jeff flake were correct unfortunately.
As I recall, at the time some people considered both President Ronald Reagan and Prime Minister Margret Thatcher “Libertarians”. So between 1980 and 2018 the definition of “Libertarian” has changed somewhat…
Thanks I agree with your comments.
Hard pass on Ward. 2a aside, she’s a vile nutjob and Her winning the primary likely gives the seat to Sinema.
I had no idea nunchucks were banned. I just thought they existed to make sure that ninja wannabees didn’t get to reproduce.
Ward got destroyed by McSally in the primary. We are stuck with her or Sinema. Talk about having to choose the lesser of two evils.
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