Senator to Dagbladet: – Simply dangerous

TUCSON (Dagbladet): A few dozen Democrats showed up outside a small cafe in Tucson, Arizona. They are ready to knock on neighborhood voters’ doors in hopes of convincing them to vote in Tuesday’s mid-term elections.

Senator Kelly came to give everyone a pep talk. In recent weeks, the former pilot and astronaut has flown across the state in a small plane to meet with voters.

– The difference between winning and losing is mostly about how many doors we knock, how many voters we call to get people to come and vote, says Kelly.

Arizona is one of the key states in the swing that will determine whether Democrats keep their very thin majority in the Senate. Here, Democrat Kelly battles Republican challenger Blake Masters.

– Very worried

Arizona and the rest of the United States are in a good mood before the election. More political violence is feared after the attack on the husband of Democratic President Nancy Pelosi. President Biden warned in a speech Wednesday that all of American democracy is in the ballot. Kelly agrees.

A cold civil war

He himself experienced that his wife and later Congressman Gabby Gifford had been shot and sustained a severe brain injury during a political event in Tuscon.

– I haven’t seen your speech, but I’m very worried. I have an opposing candidate, Blake Masters, here in Arizona, who questioned who won the Arizona election in 2020 early in the election campaign, even though the election result was clear and certified by both Democrats and Republicans, he explains. Kelly to Dagbladet.

He says the Republican governor of the state, Doug Ducey, approved of the result and also said Arizona is good at conducting elections.

– My opponent stopped questioning the 2020 election, but then got a phone call and started over. And even worse, he has now started questioning the outcome of an election we haven’t had yet. And this is simply dangerous for our democracy, says Kelly.

Not interested in measurements

– Are you worried about the chaos after the election?

– No, here we have professionals who administer the elections in a good way. They know what they’re doing, says Kelly.

Republicans currently appear to be downwind in the polls. Inflation and the gloomy economic outlook helped make Biden last in the polls. On average, 42.2% of polls say they are satisfied with the work Biden is doing, while 53.2% are dissatisfied, according to Five thirty eight.

Kelly denies he fears Biden’s meager numbers will drag him and other Democrats into running for office.

– Worse than ever

– I’m not interested in opinion polls. I’m out here talking to the voters. I fly statewide in a small plane and talk to voters about why these elections are so important, says Kelly.

Ron Pust – originally from Germany – is one of the Democrats who is now fighting hard for Kelly.

Important choice

– Democratic voters are often less likely to show up to vote, so it’s now important to increase voter turnout, Pust tells Dagbladet.

– Are you afraid that Biden’s low numbers in nationwide polls cause problems for Democrats in Arizona, among others?

– I think all the Democrats we talk to are much happier with Biden than with the alternative, says Pust.

Joshua Polachech took his daughter Theresa Polachech and her friend Lucy Venema to knock on the Democrats’ doors.

– Now there is a real choice between who supports the constitution and our democracy and who does not, Polachech tells Dagbladet.

He hopes the Republicans are clearly defeated in the elections.

– I hope the Republicans, if they lose two elections in a row, realize they have to change their message and get back to the center. May they return to support the democracy that has held us together for over two centuries, says Polachech.

– Brainwash children

A few miles away, in Phoenix, Republicans are holding an election rally with candidate for governor Kari Lake and Senate candidate Blake Masters in the lead. There the tone is quite different. They are supported by Trump and have learned from him.

Supporters cheer with enthusiasm when they come out with undocumented claims that the 2020 election was stolen and others of the same topics he often talks about relating to tougher border control, abortion, fake news and transgender people.

Among other things, he has launched a serious accusation against the opposing candidate, Katie Hobbs.

– Katie Hobbs’ husband is a gender transition psychologist for children. Why would he push this stuff on our beautiful babies, who are perfect? But her husband makes money by brainwashing children thinking they might be of a different gender, says Lake.