Mark Kelly votes like a California liberal — not an Arizonan

Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly (Ariz.) likes to pretend he’s a moderate everyman in a black t-shirt who aligns with Arizona voters. But his partisan record tells a different story. Since he was elected, Kelly has voted with Joe Biden 94 percent of the time — and Arizonans have paid the price. 

Voters in the Grand Canyon State see through Kelly’s masquerade. On Election Day, they’ll reject his radical agenda.  

Arizona has some of the worst inflation in the country, with prices skyrocketing for everything from kitchen staples to back-to-school supplies. Residents are on track to pay nearly $10,000 more in added costs annually. That’s over $800 per month. In fact, Maricopa and Pinal Counties have had the worst inflation of any tracked metro area in the continental U.S., with prices spiking 12 percent. It’s no wonder voters say inflation and the economy are their top issues going into the election. 

But Kelly has only made matters worse. He cast the deciding vote for Biden’s wasteful spending spree that fueled inflation. He helped Biden spend nearly $1 billion in taxpayer money sending stimulus checks to criminals in prison — including the Boston Marathon Bomber. He voted for Biden’s so-called Inflation Reduction Act, which will only raise taxes on families during a recession and hire 87,000 new IRS agents, increasing audits on the middle class. All of this heaps additional pressure on hardworking Arizonans.

Voters are getting sticker shock at the gas pump too, thanks to Kelly rubber-stamping Biden’s war on American energy production. Kelly voted to shut down the Keystone XL pipeline four times. He supported a ban on fracking three times. He blocked new energy production on federal lands. And he opposed an effort to stop Biden’s irresponsible scheme to ship oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to foreign countries, including China. As a result, gas prices in Arizona are roughly $4.00 per gallon. Basic tasks like driving to work now cost a small fortune.

Arizonans are also less safe thanks to the Biden-Kelly border crisis. Democrats’ open-borders agenda has made the situation the worst in modern history. Fentanyl seizures doubled last year, meaning even more drugs are making it through undetected. Smugglers now appear to be targeting children with candy-like fentanyl pills — weeks before Halloween. At least 53 murderers, 66 terrorism suspects and 283 sex offenders have entered the country through gaps in our border since October. Meanwhile, Arizona families in border towns are dealing with the “worst criminal activity” they’ve ever seen. 

But Kelly refuses to do the bare minimum. He voted to defund border wall construction three times. He refused to renew Title 42, the last bastion of President Trump’s border policy that immediately deported illegal immigrants. He declined to hire additional Border Patrol agents despite funding “sanctuary cities” and giving illegal immigrants with social security numbers taxpayer-paid stimulus checks. And he broke his promise to make the Biden administration pay for the Arizona National Guard troops Governor Ducey deployed to the border.

As the 50th vote in a split Senate, Kelly could have shielded Arizona from Biden’s destructive wish list. Instead, he’s ratified almost every Biden policy that’s come his way. That might resonate in deep blue California. But in Arizona, it simply exposes just how out-of-touch Kelly really is. 

Voters want a senator who is truly an independent voice, and they’re finding it in Republican Blake Masters. As a successful businessman, political outsider, and father of three, Masters is running to ensure that families from Tuba City to Sierra Vista can thrive. Not only will he stand up to the radical Left’s destructive policies, but he’ll also go on offense to fix the economy, bring down costs, secure the border, reverse failing schools and stop rising crime. These are the issues that will win the day.

Mark Kelly loves to talk about his time with NASA. But the only space analogies Arizonans care about are the skyrocketing prices they’re paying at the grocery store and the astronomical surge of illegal immigrants pouring over our southern border. Kelly is a blue-state senator trapped in a battleground state. This November, Arizona voters will hold him accountable.

Ronna McDaniel is chairwoman of the Republican National Committee.