United Liberty

While the race got interesting at times, Rep. Jeff Flake (R-AZ), who is endeared by grassroots and Tea Party groups, easily defeated Wil Cardon and other challengers last week to win the Republican nomination for United States Senate in Arizona:

Flake, who has served six terms in the House, jumped out to a huge lead over businessman Wil Cardon, who spent millions of his own dollars trying to win the GOP nomination. Cardon, a political unknown, had flooded the radio and TV airwaves with his ads, but in pre-election polls, Flake always held commanding double-digit leads — a difference that showed up immediately in Tuesday’s vote counts.

Flake will now face Carmona, who had no opponent in the primary. Some polls earlier in the summer indicated Carmona in a tight race with Flake and with a slight advantage in campaign funds headed into the general election.

Flake, speaking from his home in Mesa on Tuesday night, said he believes he and Carmona offer such differing visions for Arizona that voters will find the choice easy to make.

“I’m going to be talking about jobs, the economy, about our debt, our deficit, what our federal government needs to do to allow job creation,” Flake said. “What you’ll see is Rich Carmona defending the president’s agenda. It’s what he’s done so far, and it’s what he’s going to do.”

Flake has been on the frontlines in the House fighting for fiscal sanity. He’s pushed for earmark reform and conservative proposals for across the board spending reductions. Flake received support from the Club for Growth and other outside groups. Unfortunately, Cardon slammed Flake relentlessly, causing him not just to spend money in the primary to defend himself, but also giving Carmona ammunition to used in the general election.

This is a seat Republicans must win if they hope to pick up the Senate. The addition of Flake would also provide another voice, along side those of Sens. Jim DeMint, Rand Paul, Pat Toomey, and other solid fiscal conservatives, to push the GOP in the right direction.