Everyone has an opinion or has heard a rumor about Rep. Martha McSally’s entrance into the Republican Primary race for the U.S. Senate seat soon to be vacated by Jeff Flake. In anticipation of her announcement, American Bridge, a progressive opposition research group, came out swinging.

GOP operatives are also reporting that an announcement from McSally is imminent. Sources claim that McSally had hoped to announce her decision to enter the race this week, but the terrorist attack in New York, derailed those plans. Now, she is expected to make an announcement in Phoenix next week, in order to avoid certain resistance in her southern Arizona district.

According to American Bridge, “Just a few months ago, Martha McSally was caught worrying aloud about Donald Trump’s impact on her reelection to her swing House seat, saying “right now this environment would have me not prevail.” Now, she’s contemplating failing up and wading into the messy Arizona Senate GOP primary…. Although she votes with Donald Trump 96 percent of the time, she’s been a vocal critic in the past. Trump and his allies already don’t like her and are even trying to scare her out of the race.”

McSally, who lived in Germany and worked as a professor at the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, flew in to Arizona to announce her bid for the CD8 seat in 2012 Special Election. She lost to Jesse Kelly in the Republican Primary for the Special Election that resulted from the retirement of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.

McSally’s team, headed up by Sam Stone, earned the scorn from the grassroots after Stone let it slip that he was trying to sabotage Kelly and McSally was overheard in Cochise County telling people to vote for her so she could run in the general.

McSally threw her hat into the ring for the 2012 General Election race. Barber defeated McSally.

McSally ran again in 2014 and beat Barber by a mere 167 votes.

Currently Dr. Kelli Ward is the frontrunner in the race. Ward took on Sen. John McCain in 2016. McCain emerged from a brutal primary, but Ward gained notoriety. Last month, Steve Bannon announced his support for Ward at a fundraiser in Phoenix with headliner radio show host Laura Ingraham.

According to the Arizonamonitor.com, “Libertarian Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) praised conservative US Senate candidate Kelli Ward in an interview on FOX News, calling her “a thoughtful leader” and saying she “has a great chance of being the next senator from Arizona” in his endorsement of her.”

Arizonamonitor.com reported that Paul praised Ward’s “credentials, saying “Kelli Ward is a physician like myself, I’ve known her for several years, she was active in my Presidential campaign. I think she’s a thoughtful leader, she’s somebody who’s an outsider, not a career politician, and I think she’d make a great senator from Arizona.”

Many Trump supporters had hoped Treasurer Jeff DeWit, who acted as the COO for the Trump campaign, would jump into the race. However, after dragging his feet, many of those former supporters would view his entry into the race now as unwelcome.

One source reports that DeWit had asked Trump for several million dollars and to call off Bannon. Trump declined saying that it was too late. DeWit’s association with former AZGOP chair Robert Graham has also cost him support.

The scuttlebutt from MCRC Briefs, the most popular website for Arizona Republicans:

Kelli-Ward-And-The-Arizona-Vultures Even with Sen. Jeff Flake stepping down, Republican Kelli Ward faces a rough road ahead for election to the U.S. Senate, and more challengers are gathering…

Will State Treasurer Jeff DeWit’s backers convince him to toss his hat into the US senate race, since Sen Jeff Flake has announced he won’t be running for re-election. DeWit supporters are hoping President Donald Trump will ask his Arizona COO to run to fill Flake’s shoes (along with some financial backing assurance). Its common knowledge the Dems will pour a bundle into Arizona to turn this state blue.

Is Sheriff Joe Arpaio considering running for US Senate? Yes, confirmed one of Arpaio’s confidents.

Will US Rep Paul Gosar jump into the race? Haven’t gotten an answer on that one yet. His supporters think his reputation as a hardworker will carry him into the winners circle.

Former US Rep John Shadegg is reportedly already gathering petition signatures. More on Shadegg tomorrow.

Will Congresswoman Martha McSally go for the brass ring now that she has been named one of the lawmakers that gets the most done.

No word from Rep Trent Franks and Rep David Schweikert as to their plans either.

Wanna be Jay Heiler has a bunch of more experienced folks ahead of him in the rush for the swamp.

Former AZGOP Chairman Robert Graham was on TV yesterday making negative noise about Republican US candidate Dr. Kelli Ward while praising democrat candidate Kyrsten Sinema. See -Arizona-Vultures Readers question whether Graham is attempting to pave the way for his own candidacy, while others say he carries too much baggage, including an April 2017 release Robert-S-Graham, Former Capital Investment Group Broker, Named In Customer Arbitrations that resurfaced yesterday.