PHOENIX — Former Arizona State Senator Dr. Kelli Ward released the following statement after Alex Meluskey announced he was suspending his campaign for U.S. Senate Sunday afternoon:
“Today Alex Meluskey has honored his pledge to Arizona Republicans ‘to clear the way for the defeat of John McCain.’ I thank him for his selfless and courageous decision, and I pledge to be a conservative champion on those issues that matter so much to his supporters whom we welcome to our camp: protecting innocent unborn life, defending the Second Amendment, securing our borders, and finally fixing the VA.”
“After 33 years in Washington, John McCain has become the ultimate establishment insider and Hillary’s favorite Republican. It’s 2016, and the VA is still broken, and the borders are still open. That’s why he’s losing a reliably red state to a rubber stamp Obama Democrat. I’m the only Republican who can unite our party to win in November.”
“John McCain’s millions of dollars of false attacks against my military family discredit his past service and call into question his capacity to serve through a fourth decade in DC well into his eighties. John McCain should do the honorable thing and renounce the desperate smear tactics from AZ Grassroots Action PAC and debate me one-on-one, face-to-face before the voters. As Senator McCain himself has said, ‘If all you run is negative attack ads, you don’t have much of a vision for the future.’ Arizona Republicans should help me honor him with retirement on August 30.”
