Dan Nowicki

The Republic | azcentral.com

In 2014, U.S. Sen. John McCain campaigned in Mississippi for a fellow veteran U.S. senator, Thad Cochran, who was on the ropes from an aggressive and well-financed "tea-party" primary challenge from conservative state Sen. Chris McDaniel.

In Mississippi's June 3, 2014, primary, McDaniel squeaked by Cochran 49.5 percent to 49 percent, but because neither candidate got more than 50 percent of the vote, the pair proceeded to a runoff.

With McCain, R-Ariz., helping Cochran, who was first elected to the Senate in 1978, make his closing argument to Mississippi voters, Cochran edged McDaniel in the runoff.

That tea party vs. the GOP establishment battlefield in Mississippi may have provided a preview of this year's U.S. Senate race in Arizona.

Fast forward two years and McCain is the long-serving, potentially vulnerable establishment incumbent under attack from the right in the state's Aug. 30 GOP Senate primary. And his chief Republican rival, former state Sen. Kelli Ward of Lake Havasu City, is getting support from McDaniel, who remains a tea-party favorite despite coming up short in his bid to oust Cochran.

Mississippi GOP battle a preview of McCain's next run?

On behalf of Ward, McDaniel ripped McCain for surrendering on a litany of issues including "the federal takeover of education," Wall Street bailouts, "Obamacare" and Planned Parenthood funding, "amnesty" for illegal immigrants and "too many Middle East misadventures to count."

“Clearly McCain and his big government cronies are worried,” McDaniel said in a statement distributed by Ward's campaign. “Why else would their sketchy, dark money Super PACs be spending millions of dollars to scare voters and lie about Kelli’s record as a champion of the Constitution? The establishment is trying to do the same thing to conservatives in Arizona as they did two years ago in Mississippi.”

McDaniel's endorsement of Ward came as the pro-McCain Super PAC called Arizona Grassroots Action returned to television in Arizona with a new 30-second ad blasting what it calls Ward's "dangerous record" on national security.

The Ward campaign said Tuesday it has filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission alleging Arizona Grassroots Action did not provide the legally required “paid for by” disclaimer on a couple of "attack mailers" it alleges were sent by the group.

Her campaign also is dismissing "lame sauce distortions" of her positions on national security.

In a statement provided by her campaign, Ward said she "absolutely" believes in national defense but also sees protecting and defending the Constitution as the first priority.

Specifically, she defended her unsuccessful 2014 state legislation on "warrantless spying on innocent Americans," which the Super PAC has characterized as helping terrorists because it would have banned law enforcement in Arizona from helping the National Security Agency or other federal agencies that collect electronic data or metadata without a warrant.

"I don’t think it’s necessary to shred the Constitution and violate the Fourth Amendment to catch a terrorist in Afghanistan," Ward said. "If it is, we’ve already lost everything brave service members like my husband have sacrificed so much for."

McCain campaigning for ex-critic Cochran in Mississippi

In a statement provided upon the release of the latest Arizona Grassroots Action ad, Matt Kenney, the Super PAC's executive director, said the group "will continue to highlight Kelli Ward's dangerous and reckless record of siding with conspiracy theorists and unrepentant liberals on national security. She's the wrong choice for Arizona."

Ward said she was proud that McDaniel is backing her insurgent campaign.

"Conservatives all across America are excited about the momentum we’re gaining to retire John McCain," she said in a written statement. "Republicans want a U.S. senator who will finally mix the mortar to fix the border and stop illegal immigration, a conservative champion for Arizona’s future."

Lorna Romero, McCain's Senate campaign spokeswoman, responded to McDaniel's endorsement of Ward by in turn trying to paint Ward as a phony conservative.

“It's odd that any true conservative would support Kelli Ward, who has taken liberal positions on vital issues such as abortion, proposed legislation to prevent law enforcement from working together to fight the war against radical Islamic extremism, and wasted taxpayer dollars entertaining the 'chemtrails' conspiracy theory," Romero said in an emailed statement to The Arizona Republic.

Still, there are other signs Arizona's U.S. Senate primary may not play out quite like Mississippi's.

Despite a passionate grass-roots following, Ward has not yet been embraced by big-money, national tea-party-aligned organizations that strongly backed McDaniel against Cochran in the Mississippi race, such as the Club for Growth, the Senate Conservatives Fund and FreedomWorks.

Meanwhile, McCain, the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee chairman, has been lining up conservative support of his own. Last month, five freshman GOP U.S. senators — Tom Cotton of Arkansas, Joni Ernst of Iowa, Cory Gardner of Colorado, David Perdue of Georgia and Dan Sullivan of Alaska — came to Arizona to help McCain.

"Let's get straight to the point: If John McCain isn't in the United States Senate, it's a big win for radical Islam," Cotton wrote in a Thursday fundraising email for McCain. "There isn't anyone in this country — especially any liberals — who can and will do more to fight terrorists than John McCain."

On Tuesday, McCain got the endorsement of the National Border Patrol Council, the U.S. Border Patrol agents' union that in 2010 endorsed McCain's then-primary challenger, former U.S. Rep. J.D. Hayworth, R-Ariz. The group earlier this year also endorsed Republican Donald Trump for president.

In Mississippi's 2014 primary runoff, some McDaniel supporters expressed frustration that many black Democrats crossed over to give Cochran his come-from-behind win over the more-conservative McDaniel.

"Obviously, I claim credit for it, but, actually, the reason why he (Cochran) won was that he had a really excellent get-out-the-vote campaign," McCain told The Republic at the time. "There are some people who are complaining that African-American voters voted. I thought one of the major priorities of the Republican Party was to get all minority and ethnic voters out to vote for Republicans."

In addition to McCain and Ward, two other Republicans have filed petitions to get on Arizona's August primary ballot: conservative activists Alex Meluskey of Scottsdale and Clair Van Steenwyk of Sun City West, although Van Steenwyk also simultaneously filed to run as a candidate in Arizona's 8th Congressional District.

Matt Roberts, a spokesman for Arizona Secretary of State Michele Reagan, said state law prohibits candidates from seeking two offices at the same time, but said it may require a court decision to determine whether the statute also applies to federal office.

Nowicki is The Republic's national political reporter. Follow him on Twitter at @dannowicki and on his official Facebook page.