Once Republican Party officials wrap up their search for widespread fraud to explain their loss of an Arizona Senate seat, I have a suggestion for what should be next on their to-do list:

Loosen that group hug with Donald Trump and go in search of a bigger tent.

Here’s the painful lesson Arizona's Republican leaders ought to learn as they ponder how they lost their three decades-old grip on a Senate seat:

Trump did not help their cause in Arizona.

In fact, his brand of politics – pitching fear over facts – probably had a lot to do with why Martha McSally lost the election.

McSally should've changed her tone. She didn't

Sounding the alarm about caravans of immigrant invaders and threatening to wipe away the constitutional rights of newborns might sell in a Republican primary, but it’s a turnoff to most Arizona voters.

Consider the 185,000 voters who cast ballots both for Republican Gov. Doug Ducey – who generally resists the urge to light his hair on fire and follow Trump’s nativist call to arms – and Democrat Kyrsten Sinema.

As expected, moderate Republican women and independents weren’t buying what Trump – and McSally – were selling or the way in which they were selling it.

Republican strategist Stan Barnes says the McSally campaign miscalculated the strength of Trump’s coalition in Arizona.

“They wagered, and I think with good reason, that the Trump coalition that won the day in 2016 would be the winner in 2018. That wager was proven wrong,” he told me.

Republican strategist Chuck Coughlin said McSally needed to appeal to the middle, yet never changed her tone after the primary.

ROBB:McSally lost, but not just because she kissed up to Trump

“Knowing that it was going to be a close election that meant Republican women and independents would play a crucial role and I never heard a consistent narration from McSally to that swing audience,” Coughlin said.

Rather than returning to the moderate congresswoman who represents the state's most competitive congressional district – the one who, for example, once looked for doable solutions to actually fix our immigration system – McSally kept herself joined at the hip with a president more interested in stoking fear and stirring up the base than in solving problems.

Sinema did not embrace her party

Trump, of course, is always going to be Trump. But McSally decided to also be Trump, and it was a bad look.

Meanwhile, Sinema not only embraced the middle. She dumped on her own party, and it was an exceedingly good look.

One more aimed at actually solving problems.

“Kyrsten showed people that you can win this race by not embracing the Democratic Party,” Coughlin said. “Can you win this race by not embracing the Republican Party? I think the definition of both parties is up for grabs.”

Once upon a time, McSally was the sort of Republican who could appeal to voters sick to death of partisan trench warfare, a moderate who might have survived a blue wave, had she been able to survive a GOP primary, and glided into the Senate.

Once upon a time, the Republican Party was the party of the big tent. It held the franchise on the center-right. Now the word “moderate’ is dismissed by the base as a dirty four-letter concoction best uttered with a snear: RINO.

Well, here’s the result:

Republicans need a bigger tent

Last week, Democrats won five of nine U.S. House seats in Arizona. They won a U.S. Senate seat they haven’t come within striking distance of touching in 30 years.

They came within two seats of taking over the state House – closer than at any time since the 1960s.

They snagged at least two and possibly three statewide offices from what has been an all-Republican slate since 2012.

And Kyrsten Sinema won the state’s largest county, Republican-rich Maricopa.

Republicans don’t need to be looking for evidence of fraud. They need to be in frantic search of a bigger tent and a broader appeal.

Now, before that once-big tent collapses into the size of a pup tent.

Reach Roberts at laurie.roberts@arizonarepublic.com.

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