WASHINGTON: John McCain faces perhaps the toughest re-election bid of his long US Senate career Tuesday when he competes in an Arizona Republican primary overshadowed by party presidential nominee Donald Trump.
The former US Navy pilot, who turned 80 on Monday, is a leading member of the Republican establishment in Washington and the party's 2008 presidential nominee. But his Republican challenger Kelli Ward has attacked McCain as perhaps too old to live out his sixth term should he win.
"I'm a doctor. The life expectancy of the American male is not 86. It's less," Ward, a relatively youthful 47, told Politico recently.
A CNN poll released last week had McCain ahead 55 percent to 29 percent against Ward, although a Gravis Marketing poll had Ward in front by 45 percent to 36 percent.
Trump, the ultimate anti-establishment presidential candidate, is proving to be a pivotal force in the primary.
With Trump overwhelmingly winning Arizona's presidential primary in March, McCain was likely driven by raw political calculation as well as party loyalty to endorse the nominee ahead of his own primary battle. But he has shown discomfort at times in discussing Trump.
Trump hesitated before ultimately endorsing McCain for re-election earlier this month. Ward has expressed her allegiance to Trump.
She has also blasted McCain, a member of the Senate's bipartisan "Gang of Eight" that drafted a comprehensive immigration reform plan in 2013 which has stalled in Congress, for helping create an "immigration mess."
Trump, who has urged the deportation of millions of illegal immigrants, is scheduled to deliver a major speech on immigration in Arizona on Wednesday. The issue is vital to Arizona, a state that borders Mexico.
McCain's likely Democratic foe in the general election, congresswoman Ann Kirkpatrick, has faulted him for endorsing the presidential candidate who mocked McCain last year for having been captured during the Vietnam war.
McCain must first contend with Republican primary challenger Ward, a former state senator who said McCain has "gotten weak" and is pandering for Republican votes.
"I think we could see a big upset tomorrow," Ward told CNN Monday.
Florida also holds its Republican Senate primary Tuesday, featuring Marco Rubio who crashed to defeat in the Republican presidential primaries by badly losing his own state to Trump in March.
Rubio is the clear favorite to advance to the November election, when he faces a tougher race against likely Democratic opponent Patrick Murphy.
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