Arizona Republican Senator Martha McSally is asking supporters to “fast a meal” and pass along the savings to her campaign.
According to an Arizona CBS local affiliate, McSally made the callous pitch at a recent event in northern Arizona.
“We’re doing our part to catch up, you know, to get our message out,” McSally said in an audio recording obtained by Arizona’s Family. “But it takes resources. So, anybody can give, I’m not ashamed to ask, to invest. If you can give a dollar, five dollars, if you can fast a meal and give what that would be.”
— PoliticsVideo23 (@politicsvideo23) August 22, 2020
McSally’s campaign spokeswoman has released a statement saying the attention the remarks have received is unwarranted.
“This is a dumb non-story about a candidate making a joke on the stump,” the statement read.
But McSally sounded serious in the recording, and at the very least the remarks were insensitive, even if they were a joke. Food banks across the country, including in Arizona, have been ramping up stock to help cope with the increased need due to the lack of a second federal stimulus deal and weekly $600 unemployment checks coming to an end.
McSally, who in 2018 was appointed to fill Arizona’s Senate seat previously held by the late senator John McCain, is down in the polls and losing the fundraising race to Democratic senate candidate and retired astronaut Mark Kelly. The Democrat is the husband of former Arizona congresswoman Gabby Giffords, who delivered a powerful speech at the Democratic National Convention this week.
The Republican senator, who was once seen as a moderate, went full Trump sycophant during the president’s impeachment hearings in January. In a transparent attempt to go viral, McSally attacked CNN’s Manu Raju for daring to ask a simple question about whether the Senate should consider new evidence during the proceedings.
“Manu, you’re a liberal hack,” McSally said. “I’m not talking to you. You’re a liberal hack.”
Q: Senator McSally, should the Senate consider new evidence as part of the impeachment trial?
McSally: You’re a liberal hack I’m not talking to you
Manu- You’re not going to comment about this?
McSally: You’re a liberal hack. pic.twitter.com/IW5pCfZ6Oa— Manu Raju (@mkraju) January 16, 2020
McSally promoted the seemingly contrived incident on her Twitter account the same day, and the following day both the senator and Trump were using the clip to fundraise. But something tells us McSally won’t be using her most recent viral moment to raise funds.
