Sen. Martha McSally turns her meltdown at a reporter into fundraising stunt

Hours after Arizona Republican Sen. Martha McSally berated a CNN reporter on live TV, her campaign was already attempting to raise money off of the exchange.

For $35, McSally supporters can now buy tee shirts emblazoned with her comment.

McSally, who lost her 2018 Senate race to Democratic Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, but was later appointed to fill the late Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) vacant seat by Republican Gov. Doug Ducey, was asked by CNN’s Manu Raju on Thursday if the Senate should consider new evidence in Donald Trump’s impeachment trial.

“You’re a liberal hack,” she responded. “I’m not talking to you. You’re a liberal hack.”

McSally’s team was there to record the moment and, 30 minutes after Raju tweeted her quote, McSally responded by doubling down on her smear and posting her staff’s footage.

By Thursday afternoon, McSally’s campaign had obtained the domain LiberalHack.com, which now forwards to a fundraising page. Hours later, it announced the fundraiser in a tweet.

“NEW SHIRT!!” the tweet read, linking to the website. “I’m in the Senate to fight for all Arizonans, not play politics and games with the liberal hacks of the left-wing media!”

The site states that McSally is “in the Senate to fight for all Arizonans not to play games with the left-wing media. Contribute $35 or more to help her fight back against liberal hacks and get this shirt.”

The white tee shirt pictured contains the words, “You’re a liberal hack, buddy.”

[media-credit name=”McSally for Senate screenshot” align=”aligncenter” width=”291″][/media-credit]

McSally, who is running to keep her seat in 2020, has struggled to keep fundraising pace with Democratic challenger and retired astronaut Mark Kelly. Earlier this week, Kelly announced that he had raised $6.3 million in the fourth quarter of 2019 and had $13.6 million in the bank.

McSally said she raised just $4 million in the same period and had $6 million less cash-on-hand. Much of the money she raised came from employees of a company she attacked as “slumlords.”

Earlier this month, McSally complained that she does not have “the resources to fight” for her seat and asked that “conservative outside groups” spend money on her behalf to “start muddying up the landscape a little bit.” She has also refused to say she wouldn’t accept foreign support.

Last October, she ran Facebook ads touting the fact that Kelly has massively outraised her and asking supporters to chip in a $5 donation.

McSally went on Fox News on Thursday night to brag about her comments to Raju. “[Reporters] run around trying to chase Republicans and ask trapping questions,” she said. “I’m a fighter pilot, I call it like it is.”

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.