Why did Martha McSally loose?

[Cyrusman]

Why did she underperform so badly in a state that is still a lean right state? What the hell went wrong for her?

[Beet]

Because it was a D year and unlike Cruz, DeSantis and Kemp she faced an opponent who was actually more focused on winning than on media adulation.

[BundouYMB]

How did she "under perform"? Trump won AZ by 4 in an even-ish year. McSally lost by 3 in a D+8 year. She performed about as well as could reasonably be expected.

[Woody]

McSally didn't attack Sinema enough on her background, stuff like calling US soldiers terrorists, her liberal views during her tenure in the state house/senate, links to the green party, calling Arizonans crazy, pink tutu, Iraq war,, etc. Instead of doing that McSally sat on her ass and let this fake moderate Sinema smear her troughout the election season.

[lfromnj]

McSally didn't attack Sinema enough on her background, stuff like calling US soldiers terrorists, her liberal views during her tenure in the state house/senate, links to the green party, calling Arizonans crazy, pink tutu, Iraq war,, etc. Instead of doing that McSally sat on her ass and let this fake moderate Sinema smear her troughout the election season.

I'm sure attacking someone on the Iraq war will work lol.

[ON Progressive]

Arizona may have an R lean, but it's shedding it really fast. Romney did 13 points better than he did nationally in AZ, but that shed down to just 5 points more GOP than the nation as a whole with Trump.

Just to put that into perspective, Arizona shifted from being 7 points more Republican than North Carolina to being marginally (0.11 points to be precise) more Democratic than North Carolina.

[DrScholl]

McSally didn't attack Sinema enough on her background, stuff like calling US soldiers terrorists, her liberal views during her tenure in the state house/senate, links to the green party, calling Arizonans crazy, pink tutu, Iraq war,, etc. Instead of doing that McSally sat on her ass and let this fake moderate Sinema smear her troughout the election season.

That is basically the strategy that she used it just didn't work.

[Beet]

McSally didn't attack Sinema enough on her background, stuff like calling US soldiers terrorists, her liberal views during her tenure in the state house/senate, links to the green party, calling Arizonans crazy, pink tutu, Iraq war,, etc. Instead of doing that McSally sat on her ass and let this fake moderate Sinema smear her troughout the election season.

That is basically the strategy that she used it just didn't work.

Pretty much. The Republicans went all out on demonizing women in the election. Here in TX-07, you couldn't go one television commercial or YouTube video without the same Congressional Leadership Fund (CLF) ad with grainy pictures of Nancy Pelosi and Lizzie Fletcher, saying they supported the scary "liberal mob" (basically pictures of some sexual assault survivors protesting Kavanaugh). Sometimes I'd literally see the exact same commercial back-to-back, or 2-3 times in the same commercial break.

[I Can Now Die Happy]

because she didn't attack the Green Party $ocialist, Hollywood Sinema, as much as she could've and in the specific way she should've

for instance, attacking her on protesting the Iraq War was counterproductive. Should've attacked her on her atheism (I say this despite being one myself) and specific radical statements

[AudmanOut]

because she didn't attack the Green Party $ocialist, Hollywood Sinema, as much as she could've and in the specific way she should've

for instance, attacking her on protesting the Iraq War was counterproductive. Should've attacked her on her atheism (I say this despite being one myself) and specific radical statements

You’re crazy

[Free Bird]

Arizona may have an R lean, but it's shedding it really fast. Romney did 13 points better than he did nationally in AZ, but that shed down to just 5 points more GOP than the nation as a whole with Trump.

Just to put that into perspective, Arizona shifted from being 7 points more Republican than North Carolina to being marginally (0.11 points to be precise) more Democratic than North Carolina.

I'm going to have to disagree. Flake won by 2 in 2012 as Romney won by 9, just as Sinema won by 2 while Ducey won by 15. Sinema won with 12% Republican support, mainly because McSally ran a boring 2004 neocon campaign and was badly damaged by the primary. Meanwhile, Sinema had carte blanche for a year to portray herself as a moderate, endearing herself to that 12%.

[Cyrusman]

Arizona may have an R lean, but it's shedding it really fast. Romney did 13 points better than he did nationally in AZ, but that shed down to just 5 points more GOP than the nation as a whole with Trump.

Just to put that into perspective, Arizona shifted from being 7 points more Republican than North Carolina to being marginally (0.11 points to be precise) more Democratic than North Carolina.

I'm going to have to disagree. Flake won by 2 in 2012 as Romney won by 9, just as Sinema won by 2 while Ducey won by 15. Sinema won with 12% Republican support, mainly because McSally ran a boring 2004 neocon campaign and was badly damaged by the primary. Meanwhile, Sinema had carte blanche for a year to portray herself as a moderate, endearing herself to that 12%.

Geez she got 12% of the republican vote?!

That’s beyond embarrassing for McSally

[Stranger in a strange land]

because she didn't attack the Green Party $ocialist, Hollywood Sinema, as much as she could've and in the specific way she should've

for instance, attacking her on protesting the Iraq War was counterproductive. Should've attacked her on her atheism (I say this despite being one myself) and specific radical statements

Is atheism really still the killshot it would have been 10-15 years ago? I mean Trump is basically an atheist yet he's a hero among conservative evangelicals. The "King Cyrus Deliverer" thing really diminished the importance of a candidate's personal religiosity.

[lfromnj]

Senator dole agrees about the atheism attack

[Alabama_Indy10]

Because it was a D year and unlike Cruz, DeSantis and Kemp she faced an opponent who was actually more focused on winning than on media adulation.

This sums it up well.

[ON Progressive]

Arizona may have an R lean, but it's shedding it really fast. Romney did 13 points better than he did nationally in AZ, but that shed down to just 5 points more GOP than the nation as a whole with Trump.

Just to put that into perspective, Arizona shifted from being 7 points more Republican than North Carolina to being marginally (0.11 points to be precise) more Democratic than North Carolina.

I'm going to have to disagree. Flake won by 2 in 2012 as Romney won by 9, just as Sinema won by 2 while Ducey won by 15. Sinema won with 12% Republican support, mainly because McSally ran a boring 2004 neocon campaign and was badly damaged by the primary. Meanwhile, Sinema had carte blanche for a year to portray herself as a moderate, endearing herself to that 12%.

Disagree on what? Arizona's R lean declining? It actually is though. State lean is based on Presidential margin typically, and the state shifted from a Romney +9 to Trump +3.5 state. AZ would have been much more difficult to win if it were still 13 points more GOP than the nation like it was in 2012.

Democrats won 4 statewide races this year

[RussFeingoldWasRobbed]

AZ GOP logic- "George Bush won AZ by 10 points in 2004, so therefore
AZ supports Bush, therefore they support Iraq war! So attack Sinema for opposing it!"
We're not in 2004 people!!!!!!!!!!!
A- Strengthened Dem turnout- By doing this, democrats who were not thrilled with moderate hack sinema who otherwise would not have voted, might have become enthused by this.

B- Several people who voted for Bush probably oppose the war now so this is stupid

[I Can Now Die Happy]

Because it was a D year and unlike Cruz, DeSantis and Kemp she faced an opponent who was actually more focused on winning than on media adulation.

yeah IMO Kyrsten Sinema was a solid candidate. I don't believe that Beto 'did better' than her. In fact I'd say that Beto's strategy might have lost Arizona in this case.

[Annatar]

A state that voted R+5.6 relative to the nation in 2016 in a D+8.7 year should have voted D+3.1, the fundamentals suggested McSally should lose and she did, I never understood the confidence some had in believing McSally would win in a R+5.6 state in D+7 or D+8 year.

[Xing]

Arizona isn't as Republican-leaning as it used to be, and it was a good year for Democrats. Also, McSally was overrated as a candidate. She was considered this uber-electable rockstar just because the other Republican candidates were Kelli Ward and Joe Arpaio.

[pppolitics]

McSally lost because she tied herself to Trump who is unpopular in Arizona

From the McSally campaign:

“A significant segment of the AZ GOP was hostile to the President,” it says. “In internal polling during the primary, President Trump never broke 80% favorability among Republican voters. A certain segment of AZ Republicans was outright hostile to President Trump, and was against the Kavanaugh appointment. This segment of moderate Republicans, especially woman, proved very difficult to bring home to a Republican candidate that supported President Trump and the confirmation of Justice Kavanaugh.”

[IceSpear]

How did she "under perform"? Trump won AZ by 4 in an even-ish year. McSally lost by 3 in a D+8 year. She performed about as well as could reasonably be expected.

[TJ in Oregon]

She didn't campaign on things people were actually interested in. She needed to weave Sinema's statements into a context that describes the current political situation, not GW Bush's.

[progressive85]

McSally didn't attack Sinema enough on her background, stuff like calling US soldiers terrorists, her liberal views during her tenure in the state house/senate, links to the green party, calling Arizonans crazy, pink tutu, Iraq war,, etc. Instead of doing that McSally sat on her ass and let this fake moderate Sinema smear her troughout the election season.

I'm sure attacking someone on the Iraq war will work lol.

Republicans still have to decide whether they're for the war or against it.

[RussFeingoldWasRobbed]

McSally didn't attack Sinema enough on her background, stuff like calling US soldiers terrorists, her liberal views during her tenure in the state house/senate, links to the green party, calling Arizonans crazy, pink tutu, Iraq war,, etc. Instead of doing that McSally sat on her ass and let this fake moderate Sinema smear her troughout the election season.

That is basically the strategy that she used it just didn't work.

Pretty much. The Republicans went all out on demonizing women in the election. Here in TX-07, you couldn't go one television commercial or YouTube video without the same Congressional Leadership Fund (CLF) ad with grainy pictures of Nancy Pelosi and Lizzie Fletcher, saying they supported the scary "liberal mob" (basically pictures of some sexual assault survivors protesting Kavanaugh). Sometimes I'd literally see the exact same commercial back-to-back, or 2-3 times in the same commercial break.

Now that, my friends, is pure lunacy