With the nation facing an unprecedented public health crisis, Sen. Martha McSally, who faces what could turn out to be the most difficult election of her career, is suspending campaign functions crucial to Republicans’ effort to maintain control of the Senate.

McSally, R-Ariz., is halting all television political ads for at least 30 days and has suspended all door-knocking operations, which put her on-the-ground staff in direct contact with thousands of Arizonans across the state. The decision comes days after an outside group allied with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell went up with a $700,000 ad buy to benefit McSally.

McSally’s decision, first told to The Arizona Republic, also comes as recent polls suggest she is either locked in a dead heat with Democrat Mark Kelly, or trailing him. One poll also suggests more voters disapprove of the job she is doing in the Senate than approve of it.

McSally's decision comes as Republicans are working to hold their narrow 53-47 majority in the Senate and as Republican incumbents face difficult prospects beyond Arizona in Maine, Colorado and North Carolina.

McSally's campaign pivots amid coronavirus

McSally’s campaign was scheduled to go on air with a new television ad this week but aborted the plan after McSally’s directive, which came Tuesday night.

“The president has called on all Americans to join together to defeat the coronavirus, and our medical experts say we have to act immediately and urgently to flatten the curve or face an overwhelming of our health care system,” McSally said in a written statement. “This is not a time for politics; it is a time for us to remember that we are in this together as Americans, regardless of party or ideology.

“As such, I’ve directed my campaign to cease all television political advertising for at least the next 30 days. I have also suspended all door to door canvassing and have instead encouraged those staffers to help the elderly and vulnerable in their communities.”

McSally’s announcement came two days after McConnell’s campaign called on his potential Democratic opponent in Kentucky to halt political advertisements during the pandemic. McConnell’s campaign manager told The Lexington Herald Leader the “last thing” Kentuckians needed to “see on TV is negative political advertising” by Democrat Amy McGrath.

With her decision, McSally loses valuable time to make her case to voters. The Senate race this November comes after voters narrowly rejected her in 2018 and instead elected Democrat Sen. Kyrsten Sinema.

McSally was appointed to the state’s other Senate seat after the death of Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.

Although she faces a primary challenge from the right in businessman Daniel McCarthy, she is expected to easily win that race before facing Kelly in November.

Kelly, a retired NASA astronaut, has raised more money than all other Senate candidates in 2019 and has hauled in more money than McSally in every single quarter since entering the race.

McSally did not mention Kelly in her statement, but she seems to be inviting him to follow suit.

How Kelly's campaign responds

Kelly's campaign is running ads on TV and online highlighting solutions he supports to lower the cost of prescription drugs. That ad is expected to remain up for the foreseeable future.

A campaign spokesman said Kelly's campaign suspended door-to-door canvassing last Thursday. That decision came before McSally's directive to her campaign.

Last Thursday, Kelly's campaign also suspended large in-person events, following U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines to avoid events of more than 50 people and the later guidance to avoid gatherings of more than 10 people.

Kelly's campaign also allowed staff to voluntarily telework last Friday; it began mandatory teleworking for all staff starting on Monday to avoid putting people in close proximity to each other.

“Senator McSally started this campaign with a negative attack ad, and there are ads on TV supporting Senator McSally right now even as the Senate has delayed the COVID-19 relief package," Jacob Peters, Kelly's campaign manager, said in a written statement.

"Mark remains focused on ensuring workers, health care professionals, and business owners have the support they need to get through this.”

On Monday, a McConnell-allied "dark money" group called “One Nation” began spending $700,000 on TV, radio and digital ads to benefit McSally.

McSally presents herself as leader to trust in crisis

In recent weeks, McSally has been hyper-focused on the coronavirus crisis and she is presenting herself as a leader Arizonans should trust in times of crisis. McSally’s campaign schedule has largely fallen off in recent days as she has tried to discourage large gatherings of supporters.

McSally did attend a Pima County Republican Party dinner in Tucson last Saturday where a large number of people gathered.

McSally's campaign manager, Dylan Lefler, said McSally did not shake hands with attendees, kept a distance from the crowd, and asked event organizers to encourage vulnerable people to stay home through an advisory that she helped craft. McSally scrapped initial plans to deliver a campaign speech and instead spoke about the gravity of the pandemic, he said.

McSally said during a tele-town hall with Arizonans this week that she has been talking with small businesses, tourism businesses and local grocery stores struggling to keep their stores stocked. A neighbor, who is a single mom with three kids, has seen her food-truck event bookings cancelled for the foreseeable future.

“These are the types of experiences that we are hearing from people across the state,” McSally told the 20,000 Arizonans who called in for the one-hour phone call. “I know there’s a lot of anxiety. I still want to reassure that we will get through this as Americans.”

McSally said she took those stories with her back to Congress, where she said she will work to provide them relief.

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In a statement about suspending TV ads and canvassing, McSally said she needs to focus on passing legislation to lessen the economic impact to Americans.

“I also need to set an example during this national emergency,” she said in the statement. “I am going to focus 100% of my time on public service and leave campaigning for another day.”

McSally said members of Congress and other candidates around the nation “should join me in this call for a national moratorium on ‘us vs. them.’ We need social distancing from our usual corners, and we need to look at each other as fellow Americans and with a servant’s heart, not with a politically jaundiced eye.”

Most campaign spending on media outlets comes from independent groups not controlled by candidates.

McSally did not weigh in on the outside groups that are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to influence Arizona's Senate race, such as the "One Nation" group.

Have news to share about Arizona's U.S. senators or national politics? Reach the reporter on Twitter and Facebook. Contact her at yvonne.wingett@arizonarepublic.com and 602-444-4712.

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