opinion

Daniel McCarthy begs to meet Trump because Sen. Martha McSally can't win.

What are the chances President Trump will meet Daniel McCarthy during his Phoenix visit Wednesday?

You guess it. Zero.

But for goodness sake let the wise man have his say. The Republican McCarthy is screaming at least one truth everyone should hear, which is that Sen. Martha McSally can’t beat Democrat Mark Kelly.

That's worth hearing from a Republican, don't you think?

“Mr. President, we cannot afford to lose a second seat in Arizona,” McCarthy said in a letter to Trump he posted on Twitter Monday.

McCarthy’s begging for Trump’s support is kind of laughable because the president has picked McSally as a favorite and will display his backing of her this week.

But McCarthy is right to point out McSally’s vulnerability.

“It’s imperative that that we meet to discuss my very successful grassroots campaign as an alternative to Martha, who is losing to the leftist liberal Mark Kelly in every single poll for 8 months,’’ he wrote. “We did not see a path forward for Martha when Mark opened up a 5 point lead over the summer.”

Indeed, Kelly is leading McSally 46% to 42% in Public Policy Polling survey released in January. And the former astronaut and husband of former congresswoman Gabby Giffords is raising tons of money -- unless you consider that at least $20 million is not a lot.

McSally lost to Democratic Sen. Kyrsten Sinema in 2018 but was later appointed by Gov. Doug Ducey to fill the late Sen. John McCain’s seat.

Now she’s betting everything on Trump to win the seat. McCarthy is billing himself as the alternative. Without him, he writes “the AZGOP and its energetic base will be looking at a very Blue pack of liberals that will represent them in Washington.”

Surely, McCarthy’s characterization of Kelly is off the mark, but Arizonans get the larger point. McSally will have a heck of a time defeating him in November.

Elvia Díaz is an editorial columnist for The Republic and azcentral. Reach her at 602-444-8606 or elvia.diaz@arizonarepublic.com. Follow her on Twitter, @elviadiaz1.