Arizona’s Republican Senate nominee Blake Masters asked incumbent Democrat Mark Kelly (D-AZ) Thursday to resign from his position so someone could fix the border.
“We have a wide-open border. So, if that is the best you can do, I respectfully request you resign, and let’s get someone in the seat who will actually secure our border,” Masters said at the 2022 Arizona Senate Debate.
Tonight I exposed Senator Mark Kelly for what he is: a rubber stamp for Joe Biden’s failed agenda.
Help me raise enough $$ to put my debate performance on TV. Chip in what you can, WE WILL WIN THIS RACE! 🇺🇸https://t.co/DS8adUJsT1 https://t.co/xjHeqLMn7d
— Blake Masters (@bgmasters) October 7, 2022
In response, Kelly said that border security has been an issue in Washington D.C. for decades that no one has solved and that he has focused on the border “since day one.” He touted pushing back against the administration and bringing more resources to the border, like the bipartisan Border Patrol Enhancement Act. Moreover, Kelly argued that it is the Republicans who are not doing anything to secure the border, as they want to complain and politicize it.
However, Masters was not impressed with Kelly’s rebuttals. Masters called him a rubber stamp for the Biden administration, acting as the last vote President Joe Biden needs to get his policies through. He argued that if Kelly truly cared about border security, he would have dug his heels in and refused to support any of Biden’s agendas until the border received the needed help. One example Masters turned to was Kelly’s vote for the Inflation Reeducation Act (IRA), which entailed hiring 87,000 new IRS agents. Yet, Kelly voted against an amendment that would have hired 18,000 new border patrol agents before any IRS agents. When pressed by Masters, Kelly could not deny he voted this way.
“You know, if the Mexican drug cartels, if these terrorist Narcos, if they could vote in this election, every single one of them would vote for Senator Kelly because they get what they want from him, which is a completely wide open border, its complete free reign,” Masters said.
Furthermore, one issue that host Ted Simons pressed Masters on was the legitimacy of the 2020 election. Masters responded that, to the detriment of America, Biden is the legitimate President of the United States. When asked if the election was stolen or rigged because of vote counting or election results, Masters said he had not seen evidence of that. However, he does believe the FBI colluded with Big Tech companies to conceal information regarding Hunter Biden’s laptop scandal, which he argued may have changed how some Americans voted. On election integrity, he also mentioned being a believer in universal voter IDs.
“Call me old-fashioned. I think if you want to cast a vote in Arizona or America, you should have to show an ID. That’s common sense, and I’ll stand up for common sense election integrity every single time,” Masters said.
Throughout the debate, Kelly, Masters, and Libertarian nominee Mark Victor spoke on other pertinent issues Arizonans face, including inflation, abortion, bipartisanship, and water infrastructure. To end the night, Masters said it was time for Arizona to reverse course.
“Do you deserve a secure border? Do you deserve to feel safe when you walk outside at night? Do you deserve to be able to afford your own home if you work hard enough? I think the answer is yes. You deserve so much better than what we have,” Masters said. “Send me to the U.S. Senate if you think that you and your family deserve better so we can go in the right direction.”
– – –
Neil Jones is a reporter for The Arizona Sun Times and The Star News Network. Follow Neil on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Blake Masters and Mark Kelly Debate” by RNC Research.
