McSally campaign posts video of Sinema calling Arizona ‘meth lab of democracy’

Rep. Martha McSally (R-Ariz.) on Friday posted a video of her Arizona Senate race opponent, Rep. Kyrsten Sinema (D), referring to Arizona as the “meth lab of democracy” during a Netroots Nation address in 2011.

{mosads}”You can see in this very quote that the states are laboratories of democracy,” Sinema says in the edited video, gesturing to a slideshow that is offscreen.

“And my state, Arizona, is clearly the meth lab of democracy.”

It was unclear under what context Sinema made the comment, which elicits laughter and cheers from the audience. The video is heavily edited as to remove further explanation for the quote. 

“I cannot take credit for that line. Somebody at the Daily Show wrote it. But I’m happy to steal it and use it all the time,” Sinema goes on to say.

In a tweet, McSally’s campaign wrote that Sinema’s comment was evidence of how the Democrat “mocks” her home state.

CAUGHT ON CAMERA AGAIN: @kyrstensinema mocks Arizona: “Arizona is clearly the meth lab of democracy.” #AZSEN pic.twitter.com/gdd57eGa7z

— McSally For Senate (@MarthaMcSally) October 12, 2018

McSally’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Hill regarding the video.

Sinema’s campaign spokeswoman, Helen Hare, called the video a “ridiculous” effort by McSally to lash out at her opponent.

“This is yet another ridiculous and desperate attack from Congresswoman McSally and her Washington allies,” Hare said in an email.

“Kyrsten was fighting back against out-of-state special interests who were working to take away Arizonans’ health care, make tuition more expensive, and hurt Arizona families. Bottom line, Kyrsten will always stand up for Arizonans,” she added.

The Arizona Senate race remains a tight battle between McSally and Sinema, with Sinema holding a slight advantage in most polling, according to election analysis blog FiveThirtyEight, as they compete for the Senate seat held by retiring Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.).

McSally has blamed her polling deficit in the traditionally-red state on moderate Republicans.

“We need Republicans to vote Republican. We’ve got some moderate Republicans who have seemed to have drank Kyrsten Sinema’s Kool-Aid in the polling and we need to bring them back home,” McSally said in an interview with The Jeff Oravits Show.

“We need the base and those who voted for President Trump also to be getting out to vote and be energized,” she added.

However, an ABC15-OH Insights poll this week showed McSally with a 6-point lead over Sinema.