Story highlights
Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick, a Democrat trying to unseat veteran Sen. John McCain, is attaching the Arizona Republican to Donald Trump
The ad highlights a line of attack down ballot Democrats plan to use if Trump becomes the party's nominee
Democrats in Senate races across the country are eager to see Republican voters nominate Donald Trump for president, hoping the bombastic businessman’s controversial candidacy would doom GOP incumbent senators nationwide.
Case in point: Arizona.
Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick, a Democrat trying to unseat veteran Sen. John McCain, released Monday a 60-second ad highlighting Trump’s most jaw-dropping comments and noting that the long-time Republican incumbent said he would would support the GOP nominee, even if it turns out to be the real estate mogul.
“Donald Trump is dangerous for America,” the ad says. “But no matter what Donald Trump says, John McCain would support him for president.”
The ad then shows a greatest hits of sorts for Trump, showing his comments about Sen. Ted Cruz and Fox News host Megyn Kelly, along with Trump saying he’d punch a protester “in the face” and criticizing McCain himself for being captured as a prisoner during the Vietnam War.
“He’s a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured. OK? I hate to tell you,” Trump said last year.
The ad then quotes McCain saying he’s a “loyal Republican” and would endorse the GOP nominee.
McCain spokesperson Lorna Romero called the ad a “cheap, pathetic display” from Kirkpatrick, saying the congresswoman has backed President Barack Obama’s “radical” agenda.
“It’s too bad that her only accomplishment in office is being a rubber-stamp for this president including her support of Obamacare, the failed federal stimulus, reckless spending, feckless foreign policies that has made us less safe and the dangerous Iran nuclear deal,” Romero said.
The senior Arizona senator has stayed neutral since his close friend Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina dropped out of the presidential race last year.
The Kirkpatrick campaign declined to say how much money would be spent to air the ad, which will run on digital platforms and is the first ad released by the Democratic congresswoman. Kirkpatrick still has a tough road ahead to unseat the well-funded McCain, but one poll earlier this month showed the race neck-and-neck.
The ad underscores what Democratic strategists have been saying publicly and privately for months: They believe that a Trump nomination would divide the GOP and be windfall for Democrats down-the-ticket, especially in the race for the Senate where Republicans currently hold a 54-46 majority.
In particular, Democrats believe a Trump nomination would hurt blue-state Republicans in states like Pennsylvania, Ohio, Wisconsin, Illinois and New Hampshire, where GOP senators would almost certainly try to separate themselves from the top of the ticket.