Rebekah L. Sanders

The Republic | azcentral.com

Democrats are mailing campaign fliers featuring a Libertarian candidate in a tight congressional race.

The effort could help U.S. Rep. Kyrsten Sinema%2C D-Ariz.

The Republican candidate calls the tactic deceptive.

Democrats are mailing campaign fliers featuring a Libertarian candidate to conservative voters in a competitive Phoenix congressional race.

The effort could help U.S. Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., stay in office. Libertarian Powell Gammill assisted Sinema to victory last election by siphoning votes from her Republican challenger.

The mailers are part of the Democrats' political strategy, said DJ Quinlan, executive director of the Arizona Democratic Party. But he says the mailers don't ask voters to support Gammill, they simply point out his positions.

"It might be unconventional, sure, but deceptive it's surely not," Quinlan said. "It says right there: 'Paid for by the Arizona Democratic Party.'"

A spokesman for Sinema's Republican opponent, Wendy Rogers, said the mailers are a desperate ploy.

"If everything is hunky-dory, they wouldn't be mailing this," James Harris said. "It's deceiving of voters. It's highly unusual. ... It shows how nervous national Democrats are."

Sinema campaign spokeswoman Megan Cagle said the campaign was not involved in the mailers. She said she could not comment immediately on whether Sinema supported the tactic.

The mailers use language appealing to conservatives, pointing out that Gammill believes in eliminating foreign aid, funding for abortions and gun laws. "If he had his way, not a single cent of government money would go to fund an abortion for any reason," the mailer reads.

Gammill has run for office multiple times. In 2012, he captured nearly 17,000 votes. Sinema won the 9th District seat by about 10,000.

Though Libertarian candidates sometimes attract independents or Democrats as a protest vote, they more often gain votes at the expense of Republicans.

"Obviously we prefer Kyrsten Sinema," said Quinlan. But "our calculation is there are probably a lot of conservative voters who realize (Gammill) is a far more consistent conservative than Wendy Rogers. ... We're pretty much taking (Gammill's) positions directly from his website and sharing them."