Tuesday, August 4, 2020

AZ Primary 2020: McSally Crushing "Demand" Daniel McCarthy in Early Returns

Posted By on Tue, Aug 4, 2020 at 8:19 PM

Sen. Martha McSally is on her way to easily dispatching GOP challenger “Demand” Daniel McCarthy, with more than 78 percent of the vote in early returns.

Her win tonight sets up the marquee race in Arizona: McSally vs. Democrat Mark Kelly, the retired NASA astronaut who is leading McSally in the polls.

Arizona officially became a battleground state in 2018, when McSally lost her 2018 Senate bid to Democrat Kyrsten Sinema. (Gov. Doug Ducey later appointed McSally to complete the late Sen. John McCain’s term.) Both McSally and Kelly have already spent north of $20 million on their campaigns and McSally still has $11 million to spend, while Kelly has $21 million. On top of that, independent campaign committees are expected to spend tens of millions more before the race is settled in November.

In Congressional District 1, Rep. Tom O’Halleran had 56 percent of the vote and was holding off a primary challenge from former Flagstaff City Council member Eva Putzova in the Democratic primary.

O’Halleran will face the winner of the GOP primary. In the early returns, farmer and attorney Tiffany Shedd had captured 58 percent of the vote against Oro Valley attorney Nolan Reidhead.

In Congressional District 2, Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick has captured 78 percent of the vote against primary challenger Peter Quill, a lawyer making his first bid for office in Southern Arizona.

Kirkpatrick will face the winner of the GOP primary. In the early returns, Brandon Martin, who came in second in the GOP primary in 2018, is leading this year with 57 percent of the vote. In second place with 23 percent of the vote is Noran Eric Rudan, who owns a local pest control company. In third is Joseph Morgan, a government employee who works at Pima Community College, with 20 percent of the vote.

This post has been updated throughout the evening.