GOP senator's new ad doesn't mention she paid woman praising her $380,000

Not only does a new campaign ad for Sen. Martha McSally (R-AZ) feature Kristen Douglas, McSally’s former staffer, lying about McSally’s position on protecting people with preexisting conditions — the ad also fails to disclose that Douglas formerly worked for McSally and was paid hundreds of thousands of dollars over the years, according to a recent report from the Arizona Republic.

“Martha McSally will fight tirelessly to make sure that people with preexisting conditions are insured,” Douglas, a cancer survivor, falsely claimed in the ad. “She’s fighting for what’s right when it comes to preexisting conditions, and making sure everybody has access to health care.”

However, McSally has voted numerous times in Congress to take away health care protections from people with preexisting conditions.

Douglas says in the as that her “path collided” with McSally after battling cancer. The ad did not disclose that Douglas was McSally’s campaign manager on her 2014 House race, McSally’s deputy chief of staff from 2015 to 2017, and that she worked as a consultant for McSally’s failed 2018 Senate campaign.

In total, Douglas was paid $381,000 by McSally for her various roles, the Republic reported, none of which was disclosed in the ad.

In addition to this ad, McSally has a long history of lying about her health care voting record.

In an April 2 teletown hall with constituents, McSally falsely claimed, “I fully support people with preexisting conditions, ensuring that they cannot be denied health insurance.”

She made a similar claim during a November 2019 teletown hall, telling constituents, “I support making sure everybody that has a preexisting condition can get access to health insurance and they are not denied by insurance companies.”

Yet when she has had the chance to vote in Congress, McSally has consistently opted to take away health care protections for people with preexisting conditions.

As a House member in 2017, McSally joined her Republican colleagues to vote for a GOP-backed bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act and strip away protections for people with preexisting conditions. She rallied her colleagues to vote for the bill, telling them to get “this fucking thing done.”

After being appointed to the Senate, McSally backed an effort by the Trump administration to allow more people to buy so-called “junk” insurance policies. The AARP opposed the expansion because the plans “can ignore many of the ACA rules, [and] their expanded availability could hurt Americans between 50 and 64 years old who need comprehensive coverage, including those with preexisting conditions.”

McSally’s misleading ad was released less than a month after election experts at Sabato’s Crystal Ball changed their rating of the Arizona Senate race from “toss-up” to “leans Democratic.”

The group made the change because polling shows Democratic candidate Mark Kelly leading in many recent polls “and not just by a little: four surveys in March showed Kelly up anywhere from five to 12 points, a better margin than Biden enjoys in the state.”

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.