Republican senator refuses to answer whether she's 'proud of supporting Trump' for 20 seconds straight

It appears Republican Senator Martha McSally has decided to distance herself from President Donald Trump.

The Arizona senator – who actually lost out to Kyrsten Sinema in 2018 but was then appointed by Governor Doug Ducey to replace the late John McCain’s seat – was in a debate against Democratic opponent Mark Kelly on Tuesday.

When debate moderator Ted Simons asked whether McSally is proud of her support for Trump, she responded:

I’m proud to be fighting for Arizona every single day.

Simons pressed again:

Is that a yes or a no for President Donald Trump?

She continued with not answering the question directly and said:

...putting legislation on President Trump’s desk.

Not quitting, Simons interjected again:

So you’re proud of your support for President Trump?

Again, she repeated her line about putting legislation on Trump’s desk and the debate moderator cut her off:

It sounds like she is proud of her support for President Trump.

It’s certainly true that McSally has supported Trump throughout her senate career. According to FiveThirtyEight, she has sided with him 95 per cent of the time when voting.

She was also more than happy to appear at one of his campaign rallies in February this year:

After McSally’s refusal to answer the question, Simons moved on to questioning Kelly about Trump’s legacy... but the damage was done.

Videos of the exchange began circulating on social media, with many cringing at her refusal to answer the question:

Others took a more comical approach to the exchange:

And it appears the damage was done:

At the time of writing, Kelly has led McSally by a margin of four percentage points or more in almost every non-partisan poll conducted in 2020

The Democratic candidate is expected to narrowly clinch victory on 3 November.