“I think it should be a conservative, someone that supports President Trump — I think that should be the main issue,” said Joe Arpaio, the former county sheriff whom Mr. Trump pardoned last year and who is currently running for the seat now held by Mr. Flake, who is not seeking re-election. The Republican establishment’s favorite, Representative Martha McSally, has linked herself to the president as she tries to fend off far-right challenges from Mr. Arpaio and Kelli Ward, a one-time state senator who won nearly 40 percent of the vote in a 2016 primary against Mr. McCain. To do that, Ms. McSally has avoided any connection to Mr. McCain, a gambit that has infuriated the late senator’s family. (For her part, Ms. Ward suggested in a Friday Facebook post that the McCain family had timed their announcement about the senator stopping his treatment to undermine her campaign.) The governor faces a nominal primary challenge from the right on Tuesday, but is peering ahead to a far more competitive general election in November, in part because an acrimonious dispute earlier in the year with striking teachers dented his approval ratings.

Source: New York Times August 26, 2018 20:53 UTC