A new ad from Rep. Jeff Flake’s campaign claims his Democratic opponent Richard Carmona “has anger issues” and is not fit to be in the U.S. Senate,
Fox News reported.
The two candidates are vying to fill the Arizona Senate seat occupied by Sen. Jon Kyl, who is retiring. Democrats have not won a Senate seat in Arizona since 1988.
The ad features Dr. Cristina Beato, the former acting assistant secretary at Human Health Services. Beato says in the ad that Carmona “has issues with anger” after he pounded on her door in the middle of the night, causing her to fear for her life, Fox reported.
Carmona, the former U.S. surgeon general under President George W. Bush, apparently was upset that Beato would not give the green light to travel requests he made.
"Carmona is not who he seems. He has issues with anger, with ethics, and with women," Beato says in the ad. "I have testified to this under oath to Congress. Richard Carmona should never, ever be in the U.S. Senate."
Senate Democrats fired back with an attack ad on Flake, which accused him of voting against federal money for bulletproof vests and child abuse prevention, according to Fox.
"Dr. Beato is a partisan who was caught trying to politicize science at HHS and couldn't be confirmed to a post because she lied on her resume," campaign spokesman Andy Barr said, according to Fox. "It's no secret that Dr. Carmona pushed back on her attempts to spin science for political gain, but this accusation is a work of fiction. Congressman Flake's decision to run this false ad is deplorable and shows how desperate he is."
The Flake-Carmona race is extremely close.
“All of a sudden, this is a real race,” Chuck Coughlin, who heads a Republican consulting firm, told the Wall Street Journal.
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