Mark Kelly , the incumbent popular senator from Arizona , is face a strong reelection challenge from far - right Republican nominee Blake Masters , in a race that could be primal for control of the Senate . Last calendar month , during a telecast public debate between the two prospect , Masters went on the onslaught , criticizing Kelly ’s view on several issues .
Toward the end of the debate , after skewer Kelly on inflation and the border , Masters pip him on a more niche issue : federal piddle cuts on the Colorado River .
“ A few weeks ago the Union government trim Arizona ’s water allotment 592,000 Akka - pes , ” Mastersbegan . “ For all you water nerds out there , that ’s a deal of water . estimate how much water California had to rationalize ? Zero . Guess what Mark Kelly did about it ? Nothing . ”
U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) speaks to the media at a canvasing location at Llantera Garcia’s Auto Service on 11 March 2025 in Tucson, Arizona.Photo: Kevin Dietsch (Getty Images)
The attack was disingenuous — there was nothing Kelly could have done to stop the excision , since they were negotiatedwell before he entered the Senate — but a few week later , as the election approached , the incumbent senator made a similar plea . In aletter to the Biden governing body , Kelly also inspire federal officials to curb piss deliveries to southern California ’s Salton Sea , state that the Golden State had n’t done enough to conserve water , and that any delay would leave “ only to tough choices and judicial proceeding ” between the land .
Much of the western United States has suffered under drought weather condition this year , but the impacts have been most acute in the Southwest , which relies hard on the Colorado River to supply water for cities and farms . So it is no surprise that drouth has egress as a key issue in the region forrader of this calendar week ’s midterm elections . senator and voice in close races have verbalize about drought in argumentation and campaign ads , with vulnerable officeholder like Kelly gas their efforts to crusade the extreme weather conditions as evidence that they ’re fork out for their constituent .
While result like pretentiousness and miscarriage approach still top most voters ’ priority leaning , the Southwest ’s piss famine has nevertheless become an important talking point for westerly politico as they dispatch the effort track , and could move the needle in ultra - close airstream like Kelly ’s .
As water levels in the Colorado River remain to fall , the Union government has institutedmandatory water cutslike one Masters touch to in his public debate performance , and exploiter from California to Colorado are scrambling to findnew preservation strategiesto shell out with the coming crunch . In reaction to the develop crisis , agroup of Democratic senatorsfrom western country — including Kelly , his Arizona colleague Kyrsten Sinema , Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada , and Michael Bennet of Colorado — secured$4 billion in drouth fundingas part of the Inflation Reduction Act , or IRA , which go through the Senate in August . Most of that $ 4 billion will devote farmers along the Colorado to leave their W. C. Fields unplanted next year , which will ease the burden on the river . Other funds will go to prospicient - terminus water preservation strategies , reuse scheme , and other drouth relief measures .
Three of those four Democratic senator are up for re - election this year , and two of them — Kelly and Nevada ’s Cortez Masto — are in serious risk of losing their seats . Arizona ’s Kelly is pollingjust a few point aheadof Masters , who has gained reinforcement in recent week . Cortez Masto , meanwhile , isin a dead heatwith her Republican challenger Adam Laxalt .
Political groups backing Kelly and Cortez Masto have touted their roles in obtain the $ 4 billion in drought funding in ads on television set and social medium , read it show how the senators have delivered for their component . EDF Action , the political arm of the Environmental Defense Fund , spent $ 1.5 million on Spanish - language ads hype Kelly ’s drouth book .
“ It ’s well-situated for pol to grandstand , it ’s hard for elect officials to really be problem solvers , ” say David Kieve , the president of EDF Action and a former appendage of the Biden presidential term ’s White House Council on Environmental Quality . “ When they do , their constituents are going to find and it ’s going to be of welfare to them politically . ”
Kelly and Cortez Masto have bothtalked uptheirdrought credentialson the safari track in an attempt to show how they ’ve delivered for constituents . Cortez Masto , meanwhile , has tug the Biden governance to impose tougher and more forrader - face piddle restriction , saying the governing body needs to see to it that “ all country along the Colorado River take the activity that Nevada already has . ” The state is relatively well - equip to stand firm the present shortage on the Colorado River thanks to its longstanding policy of bank idle water in Lake Mead , but drouth is still front - of - psyche for many elector in the state : Almost two - thirds of Nevadans think dealing with water deficit to be a top antecedence , according to a late EDF poll , rank it higher than Department of Education and crime .
But while lecture of fighting drouth is democratic on both side of the gangway , the subject of clime variety is not . To that end , Kelly and Cortez Masto are trying toseparate the two issues , said Elizabeth Koebele , a professor of political science at the University of Nevada , Reno who has study drought politics .
Cortez Masto , for illustration , has spent much more timetouting the drought investmentsin the Inflation Reduction Act than she has spent discussing the bill ’s new investment in renewable energy . She has alsoinsistedshe does n’t see mood - fueled H2O shortages as a campaign issue , and has often discuss it without mention spheric warming . That ’s in spite of the fact that rising temperatures have helped to make thecurrent western megadroughtthe worst in more than a millennium .
“ mood is not a antecedence upshot for voters often , and so we ’ve actually seen some of these campaigner up for reelection in the West who have sort of downplayed talking about clime , ” said Koebele . “ Anytime drought gets attach to foresighted - condition drift in mood , it gets more politicized . ”
Drought has pop up in other close congressional races as well . In California ’s agriculture - grave Central Valley , where resident have struggled with dry well and polluted groundwater for X , Republican Representative David Valadao has waffled on the family relationship between drouth and climate change .
“ We ’ve always had desiccant year and wetter years , ” hetold CNN , notice that “ there ’s a possibility that [ climate variety ] play a purpose ” in drought . President Biden deliver the goods Valadao ’s territorial dominion by about 10 points in 2020 , which nominate Valadao one of the most vulnerable House Republicans this election season . His most prominent opponent , Democrat Rudy Salas , has not emphasized climate change as an issue in itself , but has touted his feat in the state general assembly to batten urine infrastructure and support for ail farmers .
Also in the Central Valley , aRepublican farmer nominate John Duarteis hop to sky a Democratic - take for ass that encompasses the cities of Modesto and Merced . Duarte became illustrious for mesh in a long effectual battle against the federal government over water regulations , and he ’s spent a fate of time on the campaign track talking about theneed to build young damsto shore up California ’s water supply , something environmental groups have long opposed .
The stakes around all this talk are high . The outcome of the midterm could sway the future of Union drought policy .
The current Democrat - led Congress has passed three major outlay bills that all contained some kind of financial backing for clime action or climate resiliency , with money uncommitted for drought response in each one of them . In add-on to the $ 4 billion from the Inflation Reduction Act , the group of senator head by Kelly and Sinema also secured more than$8.3 billion in foresightful - term drouth fundingin last class ’s bipartisan infrastructure flyer . That money will go to evolve unexampled reservoir and other water sources across the region . Nevada governor Steve Sisolak , meanwhile , has used money from the federal $ 1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan of early 2021 , also sleep together as the COVID-19 stimulant government note , to fund water supply conservation effort .
If Democrats lose control of one or both chambers , it could imperil future spending like this . The House of Representatives drop dead a drouth spending bill back in July that containedanother $ 500 millionfor western water conservation , but the bill stall out in the Senate for lack of Republican support . If the Republicans retake the House or the Senate , that legislation will likely be dead in the water supply , especially if Kelly and Cortez Masto are n’t around to advocate for it . Republican leaders have said they desire to expend their new majorities tocut administration spendingand investigate President Biden , which take even more drought financial support bills off the table .
Meanwhile , neither Masters in Arizona nor Laxalt in Nevada have put forward any detailed proposal for drought reception : bothcandidateshave said they believe buildingnew desalination plantscould help increase the West ’s body of water supplying , but desalination on a large scale of measurement is hard to reach . Laxalt has criticized Cortez Masto for supporting funding exertion like the Inflation Reduction Act , sound out she “ should have demanded genuine change in rally for her vote on any number of Democrat spending bills . ”
Even so , read Koebele , a change in who controls Congress wo n’t derail the on-going negotiations over how to solve the Colorado River crisis . Those negotiations are led not by Congress but by representatives from state body of water departments , many of whom are longtime civil servants , and by major water user , who are n’t politician at all . The same goes for issues like the Central Valley ’s groundwater shortage — Congress can help out , but it ’s up to local loss leader to find lasting solutions .
“ These water supply managers are closer than senator and example to the genuine water supply issues , so there ’s go to be continued impulse , ” she said . “ Policymaking is still pass to happen , but it might alter the resources that the federal government can bring to the table . ”
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