Arizona's upcoming special election race for the Senate seat held by GOP Sen. Martha McSally could shrink the Senate's Republican majority and complicate the process to confirm President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee if she's defeated by Democrat contender Mark Kelly.
"We will make sure that doesn't happen," McSally said on Fox News' "Fox and Friends" Tuesday. "People know Arizona is key for the presidential race. My race is key to keep the Senate majority next year but now we're key to ensure that the Supreme Court nominee goes through and that we're able to shift the court for generations to come, so we're ground zero here in Arizona."
The race between McSally and Kelly will determine who will finish out the Senate seat that had been held by Sen. John McCain, who died in 2018. The winner will be sworn in on Nov. 30, in time to influence Senate proceedings for Trump's pick if his nomination has not yet been confirmed.
"We are neck in neck, and my opponent came out and said he would be with (Senate Minority Leader Chuck) Schumer to delay and get some liberal activist judge on the bench," McSally said Tuesday. "The stakes have just gone up in our race in particular. We're a dead heat right now."
There has been a push to delay the SCOTUS nomination until after next years' inauguration, but McSally said that would not be constitutional.
"The president nominates and the Senate confirms, and we will do that without delay," she said. "It will be a thorough process. It is very important for the future of our country to fill this position and we will go through that process and we will vote."
Democrats are trying to "cook up some delay tactics," she added, but people in Arizona are tired of that.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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