Martha McSally and Kelli Ward clashed at The Arizona Republic. Here's what we learned.

Ronald J. Hansen Yvonne Wingett Sanchez
The Republic | azcentral.com
Kelli Ward (left) and Martha McSally are Republican candidates for U.S. Senate.

In the first and apparently only debate of the U.S. Senate Republican primary, U.S. Rep. Martha McSally and former state Sen. Kelli Ward sparred Monday over the future of border security, the national debt, and who is in the better position to take on Democratic front-runner U.S. Rep. Kyrsten Sinema in November.

During the Senate candidate’s one-hour appearance at The Arizona Republic, McSally cast herself as an effective problem solver while Ward attacked her as an unreliable conservative whose recent maneuverings on border-security legislation should be questioned.

McSally, a two-term congresswoman from Tucson, dismissed Ward, of Lake Havasu City, as a perpetual Senate candidate whose opinion on her record is inconsequential. Ward unsuccessfully challenged U.S. Sen. John McCain for the GOP nomination in 2016.

The third Republican candidate seeking the party’s nomination, former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, was sent an invitation but did not show up for the meeting before The Republic’s editorial board.

RELATED:McSally's office removes video supporting 'compassionate' fix for DACA

The editorial board, which operates independently from the newsroom, traditionally meets with candidates prior to issuing endorsements.

Arizona's primary election is Aug. 28.

McSally and Ward found common ground on their support for President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanagh, for justices supportive of restricting abortion rights, and on retiring incumbent U.S. Sen. Jeff Flake's estrangement from the GOP in a Trump era. 

During one heated exchange on the future of the Affordable Care Act, which President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans have unsuccessfully sought to repeal, Ward attacked McSally’s professional credentials. McSally is a former Air Force combat pilot.

In speaking of the ACA, Ward likened it to a “cancer” that should be cut out without replacing it. She said she was disappointed McSally was working with a bipartisan coalition to, among other things, adjust employer mandates and repeal a medical device tax. Ward accused McSally of participating in a discussion that would “expand the tentacles of 'Obamacare.'”

McSally shot back: “Kelli, that’s not what it is, I mean, come on. If you’re going to really spend the rest of the hour just attacking me nonstop, it’s a little extreme. I’m not going to take the bait, OK?"

Ward responded, “There’s no bait. And about the military, I’m a military wife. My husband served honorably for 33 years. I have sent him into the battle zone …”

Ward added she has not served in the military, and she thanked McSally for her service.

"And you know, I’m not a trained killer," Ward said. "I am a trained problem-solver. I’m a trained healer, and I think that’s what we need in Washington.”

McSally appeared perturbed by the attack line, pursed her lips, and took a sip of water.

No public debate

All three Republican Senate candidates were invited to participate in a primary-election debate hosted by The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com, Arizona PBS and the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University.

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Ward reiterated calls on McSally to participate in that debate, and others, suggesting she was hiding from voters.

"This is a job where you're on the national stage. I can't get my two opponents to get on the debate stage, and I think that we have an open Senate seat..." she said. "The voters of Arizona deserve to see us in the primary and then in the general standing up side by side, talking about the issues, just like we are here."

With recent polling showing McSally ahead in the race, she likely wants to avoid risking any missteps that could complicate her path to the party's nomination.

"We've got 99 days until Election Day. People are going to start voting in 71 days in this very high-stakes general election," McSally said. "And Kelli's been running for the Senate for nearly four years — I'm pretty sure people know where she stands on things."

McSally added: "The point is, this is what we're doing right now."

Taking on Sinema

Each candidate argued that they were better positioned to take on Sinema, the well-funded, three-term Democratic congresswoman from Phoenix whose liberal activism before her congressional days likely will become an issue in the Nov. 6 general election. 

McSally focused almost all of her remarks on Sinema days after reserving $1.65 million in general-election air time in a sign she is confident she will survive the GOP primary. 

McSally said some members of the Democratic Party should make Sinema answer for the more outlandish behavior. She repeatedly cited U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters of California, who called for voters to hound Trump administration officials while they are in public. 

RELATED:Paul Gosar endorses Kelli Ward for Senate

"She needs to answer on everything that Maxine Waters does and everything that (California U.S. Sen. Kamala) Harris does, and everything that (Vermont U.S. Sen.) Bernie Sanders does," McSally said. "Their party is ... falling off a cliff right now. They're focused on socialist policies and open borders ... She's now trying to pretend she's not with them." 

Ward also presented herself as the stronger opponent to take on Sinema. She said her "principled backbone" and experience in the Arizona Legislature will help her "systematically dismantle" Sinema's "radical leftist" history. 

"She's been out presenting herself as a moderate. She doesn't inform the electorate that she's actually a Democrat," Ward said. 

Border security

McSally defended her co-sponsorship of legislation that would permanently fund construction of a border wall in certain areas and would rely on other means, such as drones and other types of barriers, to secure the border. The wall is Trump's signature campaign promise.

That legislation failed in the House of Representatives. 

McSally emphasized that Trump supported her bill and does not envision a continuous  wall built through bodies of water and other stretches of the border where terrain is problematic.

For her part, Ward noted that McSally's legislation would have included what she described as "huge amnesty" for upwards of 2 million undocumented immigrants. 

"Amnesty cannot come first," she said. "We have got to first and foremost secure that border, secure the funding, and fund it fully."

Slamming Flake

Both candidates offered harsh assessments of Flake's Senate tenure. Flake announced he would not run for re-election last fall, after repeated clashes with Trump over policy and personal character. 

RELATED:'God will weigh in on Joe' Arpaio, Kelli Ward's husband says

Asked to offer assessments on Flake's legacy, McSally said he squandered an opportunity to represent Arizona.

"He lit himself on fire," McSally said. "You know there's an old saying, 'A leader without followers is just a man on a walk.' I don’t understand the path that he chose."

Ward agreed, saying Flake lost his GOP credentials when he "was going to be the ultimate Never-Trumper."

Writing his take-down of politics in the era of Trump didn't help, which borrowed the title from Barry Goldwater's influential "The Conscience of a Conservative," didn't help, she said. 

"I think President Trump was right: Flake the flake,'" she said, echoing a Trump tweet about the senator. 

Health care

Both Senate hopefuls made clear they don’t support the ACA, former President Barack Obama’s signature health-care overhaul. But they suggested very different approaches to dealing with it.

Last year, McSally voted for the GOP-led effort to repeal the ACA broadly similar to the plan McCain, R-Arizona, torpedoed two months later with a dramatic thumbs down.

Afterward, McSally led the Republican contingent in the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus that would have effectively guaranteed insurance subsidies for the individual insurance markets but exempted more businesses from mandated health coverage.

A similar effort in the Senate collapsed, signaling the parties could not make a deal on health care.

RELATED:In Arizona's Senate race, Martha McSally cozies up to Donald Trump

By contrast, Ward said she would hold out for full repeal of the ACA, clinging to a position that has failed for Republicans since the law’s passage.

Ward, a physician, touts herself as a health-care expert with a front-row view of "the dismantling of our health care system" who can challenge Sinema, whom she described as Obama’s handpicked ambassador to sell the ACA to Arizonans.

"I can tell you that Obamacare was the biggest takeover by the government of health-care liberty and health-care freedom that we will ever see in our lifetime. If we move to the next step, which is single-payer, there will be a lot of pain across the health care spectrum," Ward said. "We’ve got to have someone who is a thoughtful leader who understands the health care system, put it into plain language for the members and then move ahead with great solutions."

McSally said her record shows she is a leader who tackles the major issues confronting the United States.

She said she got provisions added to the GOP health-care bill that would have preserved more money for states under the revised Medicaid plans and she increased the proposed tax credits for those approaching Medicare eligibility.

"I was constructive," McSally said. "Sitting back and doing nothing is not an option, especially when our colleagues in the Senate fail."

Taxes

Ward blamed McSally for the government’s rising national debt, but acknowledged she would have voted for the tax-cut package McSally voted for and Trump signed into law. Those tax cuts are expected to add more than $1 trillion to the debt over the next decade.

McSally said she supports smaller additional tax cuts percolating through Congress — and wants to make the tax cuts for individuals permanent — but stopped short of promising more dramatic changes to the system for at least a while.

RELATED:Opinion: The real difference between McSally and Ward isn't what you think

“We just spent a whole lot of effort to get this historic tax cut through and people are seeing the results of it right now, and we need to continuously improve it as we go forward,” McSally said.

It is the kind of position Ward finds unacceptable.

“Martha said, ‘We’ve already done it.’ That is the problem with Washington,” Ward said. “They don’t speak to the people. They come back and say, ‘Look what I did for you’ and we all say, ‘Look what you did to us.’”

Ward said she favors a tax system that continues to lower rates on corporations and makes permanent the cuts for individuals. She wants to move toward flatter rates and greater simplicity and especially favors expanded health savings accounts.

“They allow people to utilize their own money for what they see fit. It’s not going into the black hole of government. It’s not going into the deep pockets of the insurance industry. It’s going into an account that’s actually for you,” Ward said, adding that she thinks it would expand access to health care coverage and lower costs.

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