PHOENIX — State Sen. Kelli Ward said Monday she will attempt to oust U.S. Sen. John McCain in next year’s Republican primary.
“When I look at what’s happening in our federal government, I know Arizonans need new representation in the U.S. Senate, and that’s why I’m running,” Ward said in a statement on her campaign website.
A formal announcement is set for Tuesday in Lake Havasu City, where she lives.
Ward, 46, a doctor, did not respond to repeated messages seeking comment.
Ward is serving her second two-year term in the state Senate.
In that time she had staked out strong positions on immigration, the right to bear arms and states’ rights — positions that sometimes put her in the minority of the Republicans who control the Legislature.
Pollster Earl de Berge of the Behavior Research Center said Ward has an uphill fight — and not just because McCain will file reports showing that he has $4.5 million in his campaign account at the end of June; Ward, who has been raising money since April, has filed no reports yet.
“I think it’s just very hard for a sitting Republican senator to be defeated in a primary by an extremist,” he said. “It’s not really in the cards.”
But de Berge said McCain does have some vulnerability that a challenger can exploit — if not in a Republican primary then in a general election challenge.
