Senate 2022: Arizona
In a tight race, the incumbent faces a pro-drilling, pro-fracking, pro-nuclear advocate.
Arizona was considered a toss-up state in the battle for control of the Senate. There are signs that the race may be shifting a little in the direction of the Democrats, but the extent of any shift remains unclear. The challenger touts his MAGA credentials, while the incumbent is quietly pro-environmental.
Mark Kelly (D). Kelly, the incumbent, is a retired astronaut and the husband of Gabby Giffords, a member of Congress whose political career ended when she was shot by an assailant. His campaign website doesn’t have an issues tab and his Senate website doesn’t say anything much about energy or the environment other than the need to increase Arizona’s drought resilience. He and his fellow Arizona Senator sponsored a bill to promote sustainable farming practices. He has a 97% score from the LCV.
Blake Masters (R). Masters, the challenger is a Stanford JD and acolyte of billionaire Peter Thiel. His website boasts that he brings “a wealth of experience to the table on how to defeat not just the progressive Democrats, but also the weak and compromised RINO Republicans.” In case you’re in doubt about his views, he denounces the “unholy alliance between Big Government, Big Tech and Big Business, who collude to wreak havoc on our economy, destroy our border, impose their radically liberal ideology on our culture, and censor any dissent.” He calls for a constitutional “fetal personhood” amendment and a national concealed carry law.
Blake’s energy policy doesn’t include any role for wind or solar:
“Pro-drilling and fracking — God blessed America with abundant resources, let’s use them.”
“Pro-nuclear power. I’ll lead the charge to build 1,000 new nuclear plants nationwide in the next 50 years, so we can have safe, reliable, abundant power, made right here in America.”
“Hell no to the ‘Green New Deal’ and left-wing boondoggles like subsidized solar panels from China and wind power that doesn’t work.”
So there’s the choice Arizona faces: a quietly pro-environmental incumbent versus an anti-renewables MAGA challenger. We’ll find out in November which one best represents the views of Arizonians.
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About Dan
Dan Farber has written and taught on environmental and constitutional law as well as about contracts, jurisprudence and legislation. Currently at Berkeley Law, he has al…
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Dan, when are we going to find leaders who can convince the public to fight for survival, like FDR and Churchill during WWII, because that is what we really need at this stage of worldwide environmental destruction that is totally out of contro!?
We have a lot of people who try like Gore and Kerry, but it is tragically obvious that we have no political or intellectual leaders that can motivate us to save ourselves when we need to more than ever before in history.
Don’t we have any educational leaders in the world, that are supposedly experts in educating students to make the right things happen, that are actually capable of making the right things happen now that 2022 climate change disasters have proven beyond doubt that we have run out of time!?
I know, “— purity goes along with complacency, in a way, and also goes along with a certain willful ignorance of the political and economic conditions that surround them” and “Where Berkeley falls short, in my view, is that there’s little leadership from the top and little structure at the campus level to organize climate efforts” are problems that even our best academics cannot overcome, even to protect and perpetuate an acceptable quality of life for our newest generations.