Veteran US Senator John McCain defeated his GOP primary foes Kelli Ward and Clair Van Steenwyk to win the Arizona Primary, while the Associated Press declared his win soon after the results of early voting were unveiled.
McCain, who is seeking a sixth, six-year Senate term, appeared to be outpacing his opponents on the right, leading Ward by a wide margin among early votes in the most-populous Maricopa County.
He will face US Representative Ann Kirkpatrick, D-Ariz., who was unopposed for her party's Senate nomination, in the Nov. 8 general election.
The AZCentral reported, McCain addressed a crowd of about 200 supporters at his central Phoenix campaign headquarters and said that, "To the former, your support is a privilege I promise to work as hard as I can to deserve."
"To the latter, I promise to work as hard as I can for you, too, and to fight for policies and principles that I believe are essential to building a better future for Arizona, and America, and making the world safer for our shared values."
Ward remained defiant, chastising McCain for running a negative campaign against her and said that, “Sadly, the establishment has won this battle by spending untold millions to call me liberal, dangerous, and weak." "As Senator McCain said, ‘It shouldn’t be beyond us to refrain from substituting character assassination and mean-spiritedness for spirited debate.’ After refusing to debate while running a slash and burn campaign devoid of actual ideas, I hope the senator can rest comfortably with his conscience as he continues to lecture others about civility.”
"The Republican party cannot win as a national party if we keep nominating unprincipled career politicians whose only objective is perpetual re-election."
Asked if she would vote for McCain in the general election, Ward said "we'll see.” "I'm not quite there yet," she said.
Kirkpatrick, of Flagstaff, said in a written statement that, "John McCain has changed after 33 years in Washington and no longer puts Arizonans above his own self-interest and his political career.
"There are enormous stakes in this election, and I look forward to a spirited campaign that offers voters a clear choice for the future of our state and who will best represent them in the U.S. Senate.”
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Nandini
