Republican Rep. Martha McSally belted out the national anthem at Arizona State University while wearing a maroon and gold ASU t-shirt and jeans Saturday, just days before the mid-term election. Her Democrat challenger, Rep. Kyrsten Sinema wore a bright yellow dress and eight-inch platform shoes decorated with cactus appliques to preside over the coin toss.
"Thrilled and honored to be able to sing the National Anthem before @ASU’s homecoming game. Congrats on the win!" McSally wrote on Twitter.
Sinema tweeted: ".@ASUFootball wins Homecoming game! #sundevilforlife #forkem #ASUHomecoming"
Both Arizona U.S. Senate candidates received a share of cheers and boos from the crowd of 46,000, MSN news reported. McSally and Sinema are competing for a seat being vacated by retiring Republican Sen. Jeff Flake.
Patriotism became a key issue in the McSally-Sinema race. Their appearance at Saturday's ASU game also reflects the final nationwide push by political candidates and volunteers just ahead of Tuesday's election.
McSally served 26 years in the military and was deployed six times to the Middle East and Afghanistan. She became the first woman U.S. history to fly a fighter jet in combat and also the first woman to command a fighter squadron.
McSally and her supporters have spotlighted Sinema’s background in liberal activism and her anti-war comments. During the President George W. Bush era, Sinema organized anti-war rallies while she was a law student at Arizona State University.
Since then, Sinema has worked to fashion her image as a a centrist or moderate Democrat. Even so, Sinema recently came under fire for her comments about how her state is “crazy.”
RealClearPolitics poll averages shows Sinema leading McSally by less than a percentage point. But a KNXV-TV poll this week gave McSally a 7-point lead, according to reports.
Political candidates and volunteers across the nation are aggressively stepping up their efforts to get voters out to the polls for Tuesday’s midterm election.
Republicans have remained optimistic in their efforts to keep Democrats from taking over the U.S. House and Senate. Many races are tight, and states such as Texas have reported record turnouts in early voting.
"I've never been so sleepless, so restless as I have been" since Trump was elected, Sudi Farokhnia, a risk manager in Orange County, California, who volunteers for Democratic congressional candidate Katie Porter, told MSN. Farokhnia has “spent hours phone-banking for Porter," who is facing Republican challenger Rep. Mimi Walters.
