"FAKE NEWS": Ahead Of Rally, Ward Disputes Washington Times Article Claiming Trump "Soured On Her"

Arizona Senate candidate Kelli Ward was immediately put on the defensive after next Tuesday's Trump rally in Phoenix was announced this morning. The Washington Times published a news article speculating that the President would spurn Ward's primary challenge to Senator Jeff Flake and instead endorse State Treasurer Jeff DeWit. In doing so, the unnamed Arizona sources said that Trump "soured on (Ward)" since meeting with her.

"Fake news," Ward told Arizona's Politics in a statement. "Our private discussions with the White House have been extremely positive and any report that say (sic) otherwise is utterly false, or fake news."

The campaign says the meeting(s) happened in the "end of June", and would not disclose who she met with.

Ward has made waves in recent weeks with a mega contribution to her super PAC by the Mercers (who gave heavily to KelliPAC last year when she ran against McCain) and some big hires. Her campaign declined to tell Arizona's Politics whether they are seeking a place on the stage at the Phoenix Convention Center on Tuesday.

However, DeWit has been a key surrogate and financial officer for Trump and his campaign organization. He has not given any indications that he plans to run against Flake, however, even though Trump would dearly love to knock the Senator out of Congress.

Former AZGOP Chair Robert Graham and Rep. Trent Franks have also been mentioned as possible primary challengers, and Rep. Kyrsten Sinema is considering running for the Democratic nomination.


We welcome your comments about this post. Or, if you have something unrelated on your mind, please e-mail to info-at-arizonaspolitics-dot-com or call 602-799-7025. Thanks.