McSally and Sinema locked in tight race
Both candidates for Senate in Arizona are tied at 46 percent in the latest Fox News Poll.
U.S. Reps. Martha McSally and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona are spending the final days of their bid for a U.S. Senate seat locked in a statistical dead heat. While their strategies for winning the election differ, their goal is the same: rally last-minute undecided voters.
McSally, the Republican, and Sinema, the Democrat, are tied at 46 percent support among Arizona’s likely voters, according the latest Fox News Poll released Wednesday. Both camps hope to tip the scale in their favor by focusing on residents who did not take part in early voting.
According to the Arizona Secretary of State’s office, nearly 80 percent of the ballots cast for the election will have been filled out before Tuesday’s election.
“The work we're doing over these last five days is to communicate with voters who have not turned in their early ballot,” Sinema told reporters at a media availability at a Phoenix phone bank on Thursday. “I'm just working hard to earn the vote and the support of Arizona.”
McSally will spend the weekend and Monday appearing at events hosted by the Arizona Republican Party, meaning she will often be alongside Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey, who is vying for a second term. The Fox News Poll released Wednesday has Ducey with an 18-point lead over Democrat David Garcia, among likely voters.
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Unlike McSally, Sinema has largely avoided her fellow Democrat on the campaign trail, including at two high-profile rallies held in late October with U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., the 2016 Democratic presidential candidate.
While Sinema's record in the Arizona state Senate strongly leans left, she has moved closer to the center since beginning her three terms in the U.S. House of Representatives in 2012. She has also supported President Trump on some issues, including backing his $1.3 billion spending bill earlier this year.
But while Sinema’s congressional district – Arizona’s 9th, composed of communities in Maricopa County, east of Phoenix -- was won by Hillary Clinton in 2016 by a double-digit margin, her state has not backed a Democrat in a presidential race since President Bill Clinton’s re-election in 1996.
While Sinema’s bid for outgoing U.S. Sen. Jeff Flake’s seat is largely on message with other Democrats, she has stayed away from overly partisan rhetoric.
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"Our campaign message has been the same from day one,” Sinema told reporters Thursday. "I'll be a voice for everyday Arizonans and I'm just working hard to earn the vote and the support of Arizona.”
McSally, meanwhile, has been getting help from her party at the highest levels. President Trump held a “Make America Great Again” rally in Mesa on Oct. 19 to remind his supporters to cast ballots for the two-term congresswoman from Tucson. McSally first won her House seat -- in state’s 2nd Congressional District -- in the tightest race of the 2014 midterms, besting the incumbent Ron Barber by only 167 votes.
"It'll be one of the best votes you've ever had," President Trump told the crowd in Mesa. "I need you to get your friends, get your family, get your neighbors, get your co-workers and get out and vote for Martha McSally.”
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Donald Trump Jr. echoed his father’s push for a high Republican turnout numbers during three events alongside McSally on Thursday in the Phoenix area.
“We need your help, we need you to get out there,” the younger Trump told supporters at a meet-and-greet reception. “He needs people like Martha fighting for him.”
“The only poll that matters is when they count up the ballots on Election Night,” McSally told FOX News at the event. “I know the importance of making sure we get to every last voter out there who is maybe sitting on the sidelines build enthusiasm and make sure we get across the finish line.”
Fox News' Alicia Acuna contributed to this report.
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