America needs Gov. Doug Ducey to run for US Senate. Seriously. I'm not kidding. Honest
Opinion: There's a question about Donald Trump that can only be answered by a Republican primary election with Ducey in it.
EJ Montini
The way it is in politics these days (or perhaps this is how it has always been), the very best thing a long-time elected official could do for the country would be to NOT run again.
For anything.
No higher office.
Not the same office.
Nothing.
Ever.
Except … for Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey.
Our state needs Ducey to seek the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate. Hell, our country needs this.
A question only Doug Ducey can answer
There are questions to be answered, lines to be drawn, or redrawn, or erased altogether, and the only way for that to happen is through an election.
Ducey understands this.
He knows this is why leaders of a pre-Trump Republican Party are trying to recruit him to run as a possible candidate to face, eventually, Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly. If Ducey were to agree to such a thing, it would mean first getting through a brutal primary and then facing an enormously well-funded, well-positioned opponent in the general election.
Although, the general election isn’t the important part.
The important part is the primary.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and others have been trying to convince Ducey to run. And I understand why.
Ever since the governor followed the law, honored his oath of office and certified Arizona’s 2020 election results, the former president has trashed him.
According to a recent article in The New York Times, however, McConnell and others believe Ducey can win a primary.
Can Republicans restore sanity, or is it too late?
After acquiescing to Trump’s every whim while The Donald was in office, McConnell and others seem to have grown tired of his whining about the election, his crazy conspiracy rants and his autocratic inclinations, and would like to restore some sanity to the GOP.
Although “restore” is not the right word. Each party contains crackpots and loons around the edges.
Under Trump, however, the nuttiest Republicans moved closer and closer to the center. Until they became the center.
Or did they?
There really is only one way to find out. A person like Ducey in a state like Arizona has to run as a candidate in a high-profile Republican primary.
So far, Ducey has declined.
Not too long ago on KTAR radio he said, “I’ve answered this question several times. … The answer hasn’t changed. I’m 100% focused on my day job.”
Maybe. But Ducey is politically intuitive enough to know that a Senate run is more important.
When 'old crow' is a badge of honor
Trump either read (doubt it) or was told about (that’s probably it) the Times article describing how McConnell is trying to push Ducey into the Senate race.
He issued a brief statement saying, “MAGA will never accept RINO Governor Doug Ducey of Arizona running for the U.S. Senate – So save your time, money, and energy, Mitch!”
Trump also has taken to calling McConnell an “old crow.”
McConnell, being from Kentucky, has worn the insult like a badge of honor.
He even organized a political event in which $5,000 gets a donor an autographed bottle of “Old Crow” Kentucky-produced bourbon.
I’m no fan of the senator, but I’d drink to that.
Reach Montini at ed.montini@arizonarepublic.com.
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