The Arizona Daily Star’s Editorial Board is comprised of President and Publisher John D’Orlando, our top newsroom leader Editor Jill Jorden Spitz, Opinion editor Sarah Garrecht Gassen and Opinion writer and producer Edward Celaya. Cartoonist and columnist David Fitzsimmons is part of the Opinion team, but is not part of the Editorial Board.
The Editorial Board and the Star’s news reporters and editors operate independently of each other.
Mark Kelly is the best choice to serve Arizona in this election, which will decide who completes the remainder of the late John McCain’s Senate term thru 2022.
Martha McSally is running for election to the seat she was appointed to in 2018 after McCain’s death. Her decision to ally closely with President Trump hurt her in 2018 when she ran for Senate and lost, and her continued embrace of Trump doesn’t fit in a state more inclined toward independent thinkers.
Kelly understands two crucial issues from a gut-level perspective as the husband of Gabby Giffords, who survived being shot in 2011 and lives with the effects of a traumatic brain injury.
Kelly knows the stakes of having affordable, accessible medical care and knows what a firearm can do to the human body. He is a gun owner — he owns nine, he told the Star’s Editorial Board — who supports universal background checks and the Second Amendment, just like many Arizonans do.
McSally’s refrain that she wants to eliminate the Affordable Care Act but will make sure people with pre-existing health conditions can still get health insurance tells only half the story. The legislation she supports, the Protect Act, states insurance providers can’t exclude people with pre-existing conditions, which sounds good but doesn’t mean anything if the policies are too expensive to afford. Under the ACA, people with pre-existing conditions can’t be charged more than anyone else or declined coverage —and there are subsidies to help cover costs.
The fine print matters.
McSally is the slicker politician, sticking to her rehearsed talking points and refusing to answer specific questions with specific, on-point answers about current events. Campaigns might chalk that up as a win for “staying on message” in an interview, but from what we heard from Tucsonans who participated in our recent Editorial Board interview via Zoom, voters find it frustrating — and we agree.
Republicans ding Kelly for not having clarified his position on the filibuster, which, at this point is a hypothetical question about a possible situation down the road if Democrats gain a majority in the Senate.
Kelly and McSally each have an impressive history of service to our country. Both were fighter pilots in combat, and both describe their military background as a motivation to continue serving their country in elected office. Both describe themselves as bipartisan.
But within these similarities we find a difference:
McSally describes herself as being a fighter her whole life, a fighter now “deployed” to Congress, with Washington, D.C. as her “new battlefield.”
Kelly declines such comparisons. “I don’t look at it like that, not in the slightest. We are all on the same team as Americans. … I would never think of going to Washington in comparison to when I was a combat veteran. It’s a totally different thing. We’re all on the same team. We’re trying to solve some hard problems. You’ve got to do it together. I don’t think any one party, Democrat or Republican can figure all this stuff out.”
The Arizona Daily Star Editorial Board endorses Mark Kelly for U.S. Senate.
Primary Election in Pima County

An elections worker looks over a few of the early primary ballots at one of the scanning stations during counting at the Pima County Elections Center, Tucson, Ariz., August 4, 2020.
Primary Election in Pima County

A pair of elections workers look over an early primary ballot as part of the counting process at the Pima County Elections Center, Tucson, Ariz., August 4, 2020.
Primary Election in Pima County

Elections workers feed primary ballots in to scanners at the Pima County Elections Center, Tucson, Ariz., August 4, 2020.
Primary Election in Pima County

A poll worker waits inside the Pima County voting site at Morris K. Udall Recreational Center, 7200 E. Tanque Verde Rd., in Tucson, Ariz on August 4, 2020.
Primary Election in Pima County

Brad Nelson, left, Pima County elections director, helps Lisa Matthews, Pima County election marshal, put up a “Welcome Voters” sign after it was blown down outside of the Pima County voting site at Morris K. Udall Recreational Center, 7200 E. Tanque Verde Rd., in Tucson, Ariz on August 4, 2020.
Primary Election in Pima County

After voting, a voter walks back to their car at the Pima County polling site at Ellie Towne Flowing Wells Community Center, 1660 W. Ruthrauff Rd.., in Tucson, Ariz on August 4, 2020.
Primary Election in Pima County

A voter walks by a polling sign outside the Armory Park Center located at 220 S 5th Avenue during primary election day, on Aug. 4, 2020.
Primary Election in Pima County

Voters enter the Tucson Estates Multi-Purpose Hall located at 5900 W Western Way Circle, on Aug. 4, 2020.
Primary Election in Pima County

Gilbert Silva walks through the parking lot of the Valencia Library located at 202 W Valencia Road to cast his vote during primary election day, on Aug. 4, 2020.
Primary Election in Pima County

A poll worker (right) takes a completed ballot from a voter at the Valencia Library located at 202 W Valencia Road during primary election day, on Aug. 4, 2020.
Primary Election in Pima County

After placing their vote, a voter starts to place their "I Voted" sticker on their shirt as they leave the Pima County voting site at Temple Emanu-El, 225 N. Country Club Rd., in Tucson, Ariz on August 4, 2020.
Primary Election in Pima County

A poll worker wearing a face shield, mask and gloves walks outside to check if anyone needs assistance at the Pima County polling site at Ellie Towne Flowing Wells Community Center, 1660 W. Ruthrauff Rd.., in Tucson, Ariz on August 4, 2020.
Primary Election in Pima County

A voters arrives at the Pima County polling site at Ellie Towne Flowing Wells Community Center, 1660 W. Ruthrauff Rd.., in Tucson, Ariz to drop off their voting ballot on August 4, 2020.
Primary Election in Pima County

A voter leaves the Pima County polling site at Ellie Towne Flowing Wells Community Center, 1660 W. Ruthrauff Rd.., in Tucson, Ariz on August 4, 2020. Photo by Rebecca Sasnett / Arizona Daily Star
Primary Election in Maricopa County

A portrait of Ashlee King after she voted, August 4, 2020, at the El Tianguis Mercado polling place, 9201 S. Avenida Del Yaqui, Guadalupe.
Primary Election in Maricopa County

Anita Cota-Soto washes her hands before voting, August 4, 2020, at the El Tianguis Mercado, 9201 S. Avenida Del Yaqui, Guadalupe. Cota-Soto is a Town of Guadalupe councilmember running for re-election.
Primary Election in Maricopa County

Voting marshal Gerry Lamanski checks his watch before announcing the polls are open, August 4, 2020, at the Tempe History Museum, 809 E. Southern Ave., Tempe.
Primary Election in Maricopa County

People vote on Election Day at Nueva Vida Church in Scottsdale on Aug. 4, 2020.
Primary Election in Maricopa County

Voters walk to a polling station to cast votes for GOP and Democratic candidates for the primary election Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2020, in Chandler, Ariz. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
Primary Election in Maricopa County

Voters walk to a polling station to cast votes for GOP and Democratic primary candidates Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2020, in Chandler, Ariz. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
Primary Election in Maricopa County

A voter wearing a face covering exits a polling station to cast votes for GOP and Democratic primary candidates, as a polling station workers opens the door for voters Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2020, in Chandler, Ariz. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)