PHOENIX, Ariz.—The final bell has rung, and the candidates are off. And U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) and his Republican challenger Blake Masters are about neck and neck in the polls.
In the final hours before the midterm election, both candidates are on the road scrambling for votes in last-minute rallies, with each carrying the same message: Vote as if tomorrow depended on it.
“This is very important. We’ve got four days until this election—just four days,” Kelly said at a “Full Speed Ahead” rally in downtown Phoenix on Nov. 4, where he urged around 150 supporters to get out and vote.
“In the United States Navy, we would say that’s three days and a wake-up. So, we’re running out of time here, folks,” Kelly said.
The lights were bright, and the music and kettle drums thumping as Kelly took to the stage in a blue baseball cap, an untucked button-down shirt, and denim jeans.
The former Navy veteran and astronaut said he is ready to serve another term in Congress, and that the differences that distinguish him from his opponent “couldn’t be more clear.”
“I’m going to fight for women in this state to get back a constitutional right that they had for over 50 years,” Kelly said. “My opponent on this issue—he says abortion is demonic. He says it’s a religious sacrifice. He says he wants to punish the doctors—punish the doctors.”
Kelly pointed to his support of successful bipartisan efforts to secure funding to improve roads and infrastructure in Arizona, and lower prescription drug costs with negotiated prices.
He praised the backing from disaffected Republicans in this election, saying it has been “extra special” for him to serve in the position formerly held by the late John McCain (R-Ariz.).
“He is somebody I looked up to—a guy who was willing to work across the aisle and get things done for Arizona and America,” Kelly said.
Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego told the gathering, “Choice is on the ballot—our kids’ future is on the ballot.”
“We are so lucky we have an amazing leader [Kelly] who will continue to get it done.”
“This election is so important—lowering drug prices, raising middle-class wages, protecting Medicare and Social Security. It’s all at stake,” said Kelly’s spouse, former U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords (D-Ariz.).
“That’s why I’m here to support my husband.”
On Jan. 8, 2011, Giffords survived an assassination attempt in Tucson that killed six people and injured 19 by gunfire, including Giffords.
“Focus on facts, not politics,” Giffords said. “Mark is loyal and caring. Mark has already served our country in so many ways. We need him in the Senate.”
“This is so important for Arizona—for our country. We cannot do it alone.”
During the rally, “Scandal” actress Kerry Washington lent her star power to urge people to vote for the sake of democracy.
“The voters are protecting your freedoms,” Washington said. “I don’t want my kids to grow up in a world where they have fewer freedoms than I do. I want my daughters to have agency and freedom over their bodies and decide when, where, and how they start their families.
Kelly Touts Bipartisan
Two years ago, Kelly said bipartisan lawmakers “cut through the red tape” to pass legislation allocating billions for water and infrastructure improvement and for expanding broadband to rural communities.“Through this legislation, we’re going to make some of the best semiconductor chips here in the state of Arizona. It will reduce costs, which is good for our national security,” he said.
Kelly said he pushed for successful bipartisan legislation to expand health care for veterans for the “first time in decades.”
“Sometimes, we can get stuff done in a bipartisan way across the aisle. But on a couple of issues, like the price of prescription drugs, we had to go at it alone,” Kelly said. “I hear over and over from seniors that they can’t afford the price of medications.”
He said the choice for seniors was either to buy groceries or drugs, “but no more.”
On Social Security, Kelly said his opponent wants to “cut the knot” with the government in favor of a privatized benefits program and made comments about veterans that were “pretty insulting.”
“He said our military is totally incompetent, that our leadership is totally incompetent. He says there’s rot in our military. He says we have not been in just war since before World War II. What does that mean?” Kelly said.
“He thinks that our involvement in World War II was somehow unjust. That, I don’t get. This world would be different if we, the United States of America, did not win World War II. So, what are we going to do?”
Masters Highlights Kelly’s Backing of Biden Policies
“What Biden and Mark Kelly have done to this country just boils my blood. Look at what they did to our border,” Trump-endorsed Masters said to a standing-room-only rally in Phoenix on Nov. 3.“I understand [Kelly] has put distance between himself and Joe Biden. Strange he spent the last two years rubber-stamping Biden’s agenda. He’s clever enough to know how unpopular Biden is.”
In 2018, before Biden took office, Mexican drug cartel profits totaled $500 million, Masters said.
“Guess what it is now after two years of Joe Biden and Mark Kelly’s policies? Thirteen billion. That’s a 2,600 percent increase,” he said.
Masters said the money-printing policies of the Biden Administration have produced painful price inflation for Americans, while Congress continues to send billions to support Ukraine.
“I worry that Biden is just sleepwalking—stumbling like a zombie—closer to nuclear war. Guess what you didn’t have to worry about under President Trump? Nuclear war,” Masters said. "Our backs are against the wall. If we don’t play our cards right, we are five days away from losing this country forever.
“But guess what? We’re also five days away from winning it back.”
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