*from Feb 23, 2017 town hall event*
PREJUDICE / HATE SPEECH
First, an ethnic breakdown of CD2: It’s 64% white, 28% Hispanic, and about 4% black, 3% Asian and 1% Native American. *
A religious breakdown of Arizona (Pew Survey, 2015): 27% none, 26% Evangelical, 21% Catholic, 13% Protestant, 5% Mormon, 6% non~Christian faith (Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, etc.)
Arizona’s Congressional delegation has 5 Catholics, 2 Mormons, 1 Baptist, 1 Episcopalian, 1 Unaffiliated, and then Martha McSally, listed as “Unspecified Protestant.”
In 2015, Rep. McSally spoke at a tribute to Arizona’s first Mexican~American governor: “It took people like Raul Castro to stand up and continue to push through people’s prejudices. He is a tremendous example for all of us…and as we stand here today to honor him, we have to ask ourselves what we can do to carry on his legacy.”
There coverage on~line of her visiting Holocaust museums and attending Remembrance Day Marches, but no reference to any concern she might have about Steve Bannon and Breitbart, or Stephen Miller and his relationship with David Duke. She has not complained when Trump, or Trump Jr., or Kellyanne Conway retweet white supremacists. Yesterday, there was a bipartisan letter members of Congress sent to federal law enforcement, urging them to investigate the bomb threats against Jewish Community Centers. Reps. Grijalva, Gallego, Sinema and O’Halleran signed it. Rep. McSally didn’t.
When you Google “Martha McSally” and “hate speech,” one result you get is her first reaction to Donald Trump’s Muslim ban. She called it “hateful talk” and said, “I really strongly condemn it.” That was December of 2015.
After the ban was enacted, with some legal tinkering to try to give it cover, her reaction was much more muted. Now she says he’s being “prudent,” and his behavior should be “expected.” She went from “really strongly condemning it” to normalizing it.
Tim Stellar of the Daily Star described that as, “Not a particularly strong response to a measure that demanded it.”
*edited for accuracy to reflect census numbers 6/5/2017