'Voters Know Better': AZ Republicans Expose 'Scam' of Democratic Moderacy

Republican leaders from Arizona are calling out Democratic attempts to play the middle in the presidential and swing state races this November.

As primaries wrap up in the 2020 presidential election, the establishment media have begun painting 2020 Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden and running mate Kamala Harris as moderates.

On a statewide media call Wednesday, however, Arizona Treasurer Kimberly Yee and state GOP Chairwoman Kelli Ward told The Western Journal that recent presidential nominating conventions put on by the Republican and Democratic Parties have pulled back the curtain on a clear ideological divide not often reported on honestly. 

“The media perpetuate these falsehoods that these are actually moderates when they are radical, radical leftist Democrats that are running to lead our country,” Ward said, going on to accuse figures like Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders of saying out loud the part that politically shrewd Democrats have been “keeping quiet” in their speeches before the 2020 Democratic National Convention.

Despite ideological differences he described as major on the primary trail, Sanders endorsed Biden in his Aug. 18 convention address, suggesting the party’s presidential nominee had adopted enough progressive policy proposals to earn widespread support from the far left in his fight to unseat President Donald Trump. 

“Many of the ideas we fought for, that just a few years ago were considered ‘radical,’ are now mainstream,” Sanders said. “But let us be clear: If Donald Trump is re-elected, all the progress we have made will be in jeopardy.”

Such remarks led Ward to argue the 2020 Democratic platform had been “taken over by people who have socialistic and communistic tendencies.”

Yee signaled her agreement Wednesday, accusing swing state Democrats of “hiding” their radical progressive tendencies behind a veil of moderacy in an attempt to “scam” voters.

Nominated to face off with incumbent Republican Sen. Martha McSally this November, American astronaut and former U.S. Navy Capt. Mark Kelly did not avoid direct mention in these allegations.

“[Biden] doesn’t want to showcase what he really believes in and he has that in common with Mark Kelly,” Yee said. “They are hiding from the voters and the electorate — not only in Arizona, but across the country — where they really stand on these very important issues.”

“Voters know better and they will be able to see through the scam — and they’re going to be able to vote the right way come November,” the treasurer said. 

An official campaign website indicates Kelly is a first-time candidate with a roughly seven-year history in political organization. Among the primary platform issues listed by Kelly on the website are progressive mainstays like fighting climate change and eliminating the gender “wage gap.”

The husband of former Democratic Rep. Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona, who was severely wounded in a mass shooting at a public appearance in 2011, Kelly is also a firm supporter of gun control. 

He was also notably undecided on the issue of impeachment throughout the course House and Senate proceedings on the subject, announcing only after the effort failed on Feb. 5 that he “would have voted to find [Trump] guilty on both charges” laid out against him.

With 35 seats in the U.S. Senate up for grabs in 2020, the Democratic National Committee is working to overturn a three-vote Republican majority within the body, which greatly aided the GOP efforts in acquitting the president earlier this year and elevating then-D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court in 2018.

According to various sources, Democratic efforts to flip the Senate have been flush with cash as party leaders and political action committees pour millions into advertising and grassroots efforts to oust prominent Republicans, from moderates like Susan Collins of Maine to hard-line conservatives like Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.

Ward went on to refer to such efforts targeting her state as an attempt to “pump money into Arizona” and “buy a Senate seat for another radical leftist.”

According to the RealClearPolitics polling aggregates, McSally trails Kelly by 7.4 percentage points as of Aug. 10.

Trump similarly trails Biden by 7 percentage points nationwide and 3.7 points in the key battleground states of Arizona, Florida, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

Regardless of the election results, however, recent data from the Pew Research Center indicates strong partisanship will undoubtedly play a role, with 85 percent of self-professed Biden supporters saying they are “certain” to cast their ballot for Democratic nominees this November and 84 percent of Trump supporters saying the same of their candidates.