McCain opponent releases new ad hitting his record

Arizona Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick (D) will release a new ad Saturday in her bid to unseat five-term Sen. John McCain (R).

The ad, titled “Uniquely Arizona,” focuses on McCain’s record in Washington, drawing comparisons to Kirkpatrick’s policy positions on term limits, Wall Street bailouts and women’s health.

{mosads}”It’s a story of two candidates,” the ad begins. “John McCain has been in Washington for 33 years, Ann Kirkpatrick has taken a term-limit pledge.”

McCain was first elected to Congress in 1983 and to the Senate in 1987, Kirkpatrick has been in Congress since 2009.

The 2016 race could be the closest of McCain’s Senate career, as he faces an unusually strong challenger in Kirkpatrick and changing demographics in Arizona.

In May, McCain said, “this may be the race of my life” because of a growing Hispanic population in the state and their opposition to Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. Trump’s rhetoric on immigration and Hispanics has alienated many voters in that demographic, and Democrats have worked to pin down-ballot Republicans to Trump’s statements.

McCain endorsed Trump in May, but has at times been at loggerheads with the nominee. In July of last year, Trump said McCain was not a war hero because “I like people who weren’t captured.” McCain spent five-and-a-half years in a Vietnamese prison camp after being shot down over Hanoi.

The Senator has rebuked some of Trump’s harsher comments, including when he questioned Federal Judge Gonzalo Curiel’s objectivity in a case involving Trump University because of his Mexican heritage.

After a series of tit-for-tat ads focusing on immigration, the new campaign does not mention the issue, nor does it seem to be specifically targeted toward Hispanics.

Arizona has a deeply divided electorate, with an older, white majority that tends to support conservative policies and a large Hispanic minority with more liberal leanings. The average age of Hispanics in Arizona is 26, compared to 46 for whites.

A spokesman for the Kirkpatrick campaign said the ad would run statewide, as part of a “six-figure buy.”

The race was at a statistical tie in April, but McCain has since recovered ground and now has a 13.7 point lead over Kirkpatrick, according to RealClear Politics.