GOP governor appoints failed candidate to Senate after voters rejected her

In a blatant snub to the will of Arizona voters, Republican Gov. Doug Ducey will appoint the loser of last month’s Senate race, Rep. Martha McSally, to the Senate. The appointment comes a few days after Republican Sen. Jon Kyl, previously appointed to finish out the late Sen. John McCain’s term, announced he would step down on Dec. 31.

McSally will now serve out the remainder McCain’s term.

McSally is a radical, far-right fringe candidate who voters rejected at the ballot box on Nov. 6, opting instead for Democrat Krysten Sinema.

McSally campaigned on a sting of lies about her health care voting record. While in the House, McSally voted with Trump and the Republicans to eliminate protections for people with pre-existing conditions. According to Politifact, the bill McSally supported would have allowed insurance companies to “charge people significantly more if they had a pre-existing condition like heart disease, cancer, diabetes or arthritis – possibly requiring people to pay thousands of dollars extra every year to remain insured.”

Yet on the campaign trail, McSally had no qualms lying to voters, insisting that her vote didn’t do what independent experts said it would do.

In fact, she was so excited to rip health care away from more than 20 million people that she reportedly told her colleagues, “Let’s get this f–king thing done!”

McSally will replace McCain, a man she insulted on the campaign trail. In an effort to suck up to Trump, McSally defended his regular snubs and insults of McCain. Her cowardly stance led Arizona Republican columnist Laura Roberts to write, “That’s something I wouldn’t have expected from a former combat pilot, who once upon a time must have had a backbone.”

Like Republicans in Wisconsin and Michigan, Ducey doesn’t care that voters had a choice to put McSally in the Senate just last month. It is yet another instance of Republicans thinking they know better than the people of their respective state.

And now, Arizona residents are stuck with a losing Senate nominee as their Senator … at least until 2020, when voters will once again be able to reject McSally at the polls.

This article was updated to correct the spelling of former Sen. Jon Kyl’s name and to note that he was appointed previously to carry out McCain’s term.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.