Kelli Ward: I don't believe in 'chemtrails'

State Sen. Kelli Ward, who is exploring a possible 2016 Republican primary challenge to incumbent U.S. Sen. John McCain, in a series of Twitter messages clarified that she does not believe in the "chemtrails" conspiracy theory.

Last month, Ward, R-Lake Havasu City, had told The Arizona Republic that she had no opinion about chemtrails one way or the other, despite having held a June 25 hearing in Kingman that addressed the topic.

Since then, FreedomWorks, one of the major tea-party-aligned national groups who is looking for a viable candidate to take on McCain, has cited her association with the fringe issue as a possible political liability.

"Chemtrails" conspiracists claim that airplanes, via visible contrails, are spraying dangerous chemicals into the air, either to change the weather or for other more sinister purposes.

"Let's just be clear - I don't believe in that," Ward tweeted to journalists and FreedomWorks on Wednesday.

"I've never believed it - many in my district do," she added in a follow-up message.

The "chemtrails" Twitter conversation started after Politico quoted Ward publicly spurning the conspiracy theory.

In March, Ward had told The Republic she was responding to constituent concerns and only arranged a forum for them to ask questions to state environmental experts.

"I don't really have any opinions about 'chemtrails' one way or the other," Ward told The Republic at the time. "I think that environmental quality, though, is very important."

Politico also paraphrased Ward as "contending the issue merely came up at a larger hearing about air, soil and water quality in her district" and that "several constituents asked her to convene the hearing with state environmental officials and then asked about chemtrails."

However, a June 4 Ward Facebook post promoting the event made it clear that "chemtrails" were on the the agenda ahead of time. Ward wrote that the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality would discuss air and water safety and "address community concerns about chemtrails."

"'Community concerns' not 'Kelli concerns,'" Ward reiterated Wednesday on Twitter.

Ward also tried to discourage media interest in the "chemtrails" topic, suggesting that it distracted from more important issues such as border security, "Obamacare" and out-of-control spending.

To a journalist who asked about her conflicting comments to Politico and The Republic, Ward tweeted: "Is that a story? Wow..."

In other developments:

-- U.S. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., made headlines with a CNBC interview in which he dubbed the entire 2016 Republican presidential field "losers."

Reid, who has announce he will not seek re-election next year, also quoted McCain as recently telling him that, "What you just did, I'm going to come to the floor and kick the (expletive) out of you."

"And I said to him: 'John, if I were in your position, I'd do the same thing,'" he said.

In an interview Friday with The Republic, McCain didn't deny the exchange, but emphasized he was talking about rhetorically blasting Reid on the Senate floor, not physical violence.

"We are friendly, but when it comes to issues that we strongly disagree on, I will speak as vigorously as possible," McCain said.

-- Buzz continues to follow U.S. Rep. Matt Salmon, R-Ariz., who FreedomWorks and other tea-party conservatives have urged to run against McCain. But next weekend Salmon is expected to attend the McCain Institute for International Leadership's Sedona Forum on global issues.

Salmon, a U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee member, is expected to participate on a panel with U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker, R-Tenn., and U.S. Sens. Cory Booker, D-N.J.; Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D.; and Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I.

-- U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., who is running for president, will appear May 6 in Phoenix as part of the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry's "Leadership Series."

Rubio will speak at a luncheon at the Ritz-Carlton, Phoenix, at 24th Street and Camelback Road.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker headlined a March 25 event in the chamber's series.

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