Mitch McConnell is Right Again
Arizona provides another example of poor candidate selection on the part of Republicans handing over the Senate seat to a Democrat. The cause of that poor candidate selection was the same one we have seen in other battleground states: Donald Trump.
Mark Kelly is Not an Ideal Choice for Centrists
On policy issues Mark Kelly sits between the Progressive camp and the left-of-center Democrats. For a review of positions he has taken visit: OntheIssues.org. He is no centrist, though he needs to appeal to centrists to win in Arizona. Luckily, for Mark Kelly, Trump weighed in and endorsed Blake Masters, a far-right election denier. Masters has been trying to walk back positions he took during the primaries, but in the internet age that is easier said than done.
Centrist Independent Voter Endorsement
The Centrist Independent Voter endorses Mark Kelly for the U.S. Senate seat from Arizona. While no centrist, Kelly is closer to the center than Masters.
Why does the Centrist Independent Voter support so many Democrats in key Senate races?
You may have noticed that, so far, our endorsements in the general election races for U.S. Senate have all been for Democrats. It didn’t have to be that way. Had Republicans rejected the Trump endorsed far-right candidates during the primaries, I suspect we would have endorsed a roughly equal number of Republicans and Democrats.
I suspect we might be less willing to weigh in against these Trump-backed candidates if we thought the Democrats were in a position to seize a majority in the House and a filibuster proof majority in the Senate. That is unlikely. We are very likely to see a Republican majority in the House and, in my opinion, a modest Democratic majority in the Senate. That means divided government for the next two years. Things could be worse.
Perhaps Republicans will come to their senses and abandon loyalty to Trump and Trumpism and move to the center in 2024. If that happens, I suspect the Centrist Independent Voter will be endorsing a more equally balanced slate of candidates. If Democrats view success in the U.S. Senate races as endorsement of the Progressive agenda and tilt left during the 2024 primaries, you can probably expect a reversal of this years pattern of endorsements in 2024.
