Republican U.S. senators John McCain and Marco Rubio won their
party's nominations on Tuesday to seek re-election in Arizona and Florida in
November, as both of the high profile politicians saw off insurgent
challengers.
In advancing to the general election, the 80-year-old McCain
handily beat ex-state Senator Kelli Ward, 47, a conservative Tea Party activist
and a follower of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.
McCain, the 2012 failed Republican presidential candidate,
now faces a spirited challenge in Arizona from Democrat Ann Kirkpatrick, who
has served in the U.S. House of Representatives since 2011 and wants to move to
the Senate.
Also in Florida, U.S. Representative Debbie Wasserman
Schultz overcame a challenger - and the embarrassment of being stripped last
month of her job as head of the Democratic National Committee - and will get a
shot at a seventh House term in the Nov. 8 general elections.
In perhaps his most vulnerable bid for re-election, Sen.
John McCain has completely disengaged from one polarizing campaign topic —
Donald Trump.
According to Politico, no matter what Trump has said about
him, no matter what Trump continues to say that riles up everybody else, McCain
continues to campaign on his terms — and it's driving his opponents nuts.
McCain has said this year's race could be the toughest of a
political career spanning more than three decades.
Then there's upcoming Democratic challenger Ann Kirkpatrick,
who is excoriating McCain at every turn for being too supportive of the GOP
nominee.
"It's baffling to me that he continues to support Trump
in spite of the horrible racist, sexist, discriminating things that Trump
said," Kirkpatrick told Politico.
Like McCain, Rubio also is girding for a potentially tough
challenge on Nov. 8.
Whether it's actual support for Trump or just sound campaign
strategy, it's working for McCain.
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