Arizona Senate Candidate Kyrsten Sinema's face spoke louder than words during a March 2018 event when she described her decision to run for the State House and Senate in Arizona.
Sinema was speaking at the Federation of American Hospitals Public Policy Conference in Washington, D.C. when she acted as if she couldn't believe she ran for office in Arizona.
"I wanted to make a larger impact and create lasting change for Arizona's women, seniors, veterans, families, and so I ran for the State House and State Senate," Sinema said, and while making a questioning gesture with her hand and a seemingly disgusted facial expression, she added, "in Arizona. Right?"
Sinema, a congresswomen representing the state's 9th Congressional District, has been under attack in recent days for previous comments she made about the state of Arizona and its citizens.
At a Texas Democratic event in 2011, Sinema referred to Arizona as "crazy."
"When we grew up," Sinema told the audience. "I remember in first grade we learned a song about Arizona. Arizona is the state of the five C's: cattle, copper, citrus, cotton, and climate. And those were the five things that our state historically made its money off of. But I would add a sixth C, it's called ‘crazy.'"
In another 2011 speech, Sinema compared Arizona to troubled actress Lindsay Lohan, who had in previous years repeatedly entered drug rehabilitation, saying, "We're not famous in a good way, we're famous in a Lindsay Lohan kind of way. Not good."
In a 2010 speech, Sinema told her gathered crowd that if "states are the laboratories of democracy...then my state, Arizona, is clearly the meth lab of democracy." She attributed to quote to "The Daily Show", but said, "I’m happy to steal it and use it all the time."
Previous tweets from Sinema have also resurfaced, and in one she said "crazy" Arizona "used to be pretty great."
"Dear Rest Of The World, I just want you to know, Arizona wasn't always this crazy. It used to be pretty great, actually. Sincerely, Kyrsten," she tweeted in February of 2011.
Dear Rest Of The World, I just want you to know, Arizona wasn't always this crazy. It used to be pretty great, actually. Sincerely, Kyrsten
— Kyrsten Sinema (@kyrstensinema) March 1, 2011
Sinema is running against Rep. Martha McSally (R., Ariz.) to replace Sen. Jeff Flake (R., Ariz.), who announced last year he would not run for reelection. McSally, a retired Air Force officer, was the first woman in U.S. history to fly a fighter jet in combat and the first to command a fighter squadron.
During a debate Monday night, McSally called on Sinema to apologize for saying it was okay for Americans to join the Taliban. "I don't care if you want to do that, go ahead," Sinema told a radio host in 2003 when asked about Americans joining the terrorist organization.
"I want to ask you right now whether you are going to apologize to the veterans and me for saying it's okay to commit treason," McSally said during the debate.
Sinema avoided answering the question, instead criticizing McSally for running a "negative campaign."