Retired astronaut Mark Kelly holds a 10-percentage-point lead over appointed U.S. Sen. Martha McSally, according to a new survey by one of the state's most respected political consulting firms, Highground Public Affairs Consultants.

More than half the voters surveyed, 51.3 percent, supported Kelly in the poll, while McSally had the support of just 41.3 percent.

Kelly, who is married to former Southern Arizona congresswoman Gabby Giffords, is leading McSally 54-36 percent in Pima County and is doing even better in Maricopa County, where his lead is 57-36. But McSally is outdoing Kelly in the rural counties, leading 60-31 percent.

Given that a Highground poll released yesterday showed that Trump was trailing presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden by just 2 percentage point, Highground CEO Charles "Chuck" Coughlin said that McSally is not being dragged down by Trump but is failing on her own reputation.

“Clearly, for the Arizona voter, Kelly is presenting himself as a better option than Biden, adopting the similar strategy which won Krysten Sinema her United States Senate seat in 2018 of avoiding the progressive partisan label that the Democratic Party’s nominee must shoulder,” said  Coughlin, a onetime advisor to former Arizona governors Fife Symington and Jan Brewer.

Coughlin said McSally was running out of time to change the narrative of the race.

“The social and economic tumult of the past three months would lead one to believe that anything is possible, but the road ahead is narrowing for McSally’s campaign," Coughlin said. "Mark Kelly is a formidable candidate for the Arizona electorate, one could reasonably describe him as the best candidate the Democrats have running in this cycle."

But Coughlin added that there would be big twists ahead.

“With a 20-point lead in Maricopa County and more than 17 point lead in Pima County, many might consider this race all but over," Coughlin said. 'But, that would be a mistake. Our survey released yesterday indicated that 20% of the electorate is blaming China for COVID-19 and 25% still doesn’t know or is blaming no one. Given the recent attacks on Kelly’s business dealings, you can expect the Republican narrative to focus sharply on this issue in an attempt to link Kelly to China and undermine his performance in the dominant media markets of Maricopa and Pima County. McSally will clearly have to up her game with Republican and swing voters in Maricopa and greater Arizona in order to be successful, but as long as Trump is running a competitive race, you cannot count Senator McSally out.”

Highground's methodology:

The N=400 survey was conducted among likely voters 5/18 through 5/22. The poll surveyed likely Arizona 2020 General Election voters who have a history of electoral participation and was balanced to model the likely turnout of voters across party, age, region, and gender. The live interview survey of voters was conducted by HighGround Public Affairs to both landline and cell phone users. The partisan advantage was set at +4% GOP based on previous election trends and expected Presidential Election turnout. The margin of error is ±4.9%.

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A former White House aide won a $3 million federal contract to supply respirator masks to Navajo Nation hospitals in New Mexico and Arizona 11 days after he created a company to sell personal protective equipment in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Zach Fuentes, President Donald Trump’s former deputy chief of staff, secured the deal with the Indian Health Service with limited competitive bidding and no prior federal contracting experience.

The IHS told ProPublica it has found that 247,000 of the masks delivered by Fuentes’ company — at a cost of roughly $800,000 — may be unsuitable for medical use. An additional 130,400, worth about $422,000, are not the type specified in the procurement data, the agency said.

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The Pima County Board of Supervisors voted 3-2 Thursday to revise last week's emergency amendments to the county's health code for restaurants and bars after restaurant owners complained the new rules were too burdensome and Attorney General Mark Brnovich launched an investigation into the rules at the request of local GOP state lawmakers.

Today's vote was along party lines, with Democratic Supervisors Ramon Valadez, Sharon Bronson and Betty Villegas voting for the changes and GOP Supervisors Ally Miller and Steve Christy voting against them.

Some of the most significant revisions include removal of the $500 civil penalty, allowing bartop seating as long as six-foot distancing requirements are met and nixing 50 percent occupancy guidelines if physical distancing allows for higher occupancy.

“I think we have adequately captured all of the information that has been provided. I think our revision that we had Tuesday afternoon was based on a large part from the comments we’ve received here,” Pima County Administrator Huckelberry said before reading the revisions. “With all the notifications suggested I believe we would recommend to the board adoption.”

The board also clarified that parties—not individuals—must be spaced 6 feet apart to be in compliance with the proclamation. The county is still requiring parties not to exceed 10 or more people. Servers are not required to wear gloves and only have to follow current health code handwashing policies, instead of documenting each hand sanitization or glove change.

“The specificity of number (to a party) has been left out on purpose,” Huckelberry said. “Typically it’s two, but it could be (more) if we follow the same language in the policy, it’s up to 10 per party.”

PHOENIX – About half of low-income Latino households and just as many Latino-owned businesses said they have not received any support from the massive COVID-19 relief bills, according to a nationwide poll released Wednesday.

The survey of 1,800 Latinos across all 50 states oversampled residents of six states, including Arizona. What it found was 48% of Latino households making under $25,000 did not receive any support. The same was true for small Latino-owned businesses, half which reported not being able to receive loans under the original stimulus bill.

Businesses in Arizona are no exception, said Tanairi Ochoa-Martinez, director of Fuerza Local, a nonprofit that supports Latino-owned businesses in the state.

“I’ve worked with hundreds of businesses and I can count on one hand how many businesses have been approved and actually received those funds,” Ochoa-Martinez said of the federal Paycheck Protection Program.

That $660 billion program directed Small Business Administration loans to businesses hit by COVID-19 shutdowns, with the possibility that the loans would be forgiven if the money was used to keep workers on the payroll through the pandemic.

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The Pima County Board of Supervisors yesterday delayed revising new regulations added to the county health code to help prevent a COVID-19 outbreak as the state reopens for business during the pandemic.

The Board of Supervisors will meet again on Thursday, May 21, to finalize an easing of the new restrictions.

The move to change the new regulations came after complaints from restaurant owners and an investigation by Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich, who was asked to look into the situation by three state lawmakers.

The new regulations were first created last week during an emergency meeting last Wednesday, May 13. The Board of Supervisors voted 3-2 to enact 15 of the 17 new guidelines recommended by the county’s Back to Business Bars and Restaurants Task Force as temporary regulations to the county health code. Supervisors Steve Christy and Ally Miller voted against the new rules.

State Sen. Vince Leach and state Reps. Mark Finchem and Bret Roberts filed a complaint with Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich’s office on Friday, May 15 calling for an investigation into Pima County’s actions. The state lawmakers say the county’s proclamation attempts to supersede Gov. Ducey’s May 12 executive order allowing dine-in service at Arizona restaurants as long as they follow the state’s recommended guidelines.

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