By Ronald J. Hansen || Arizona Republic
Sen. Mark Kelly said Monday that inflation remains the top issue in his race for reelection, but he maintains he understands consumer pain and has taken steps to bring down prices and hold corporations accountable for their role in it.
In a meeting with editors and reporters from The Arizona Republic, Kelly, D-Ariz., acknowledged the issue looms large in a race that will help determine control of the Senate for the next two years.
Blake Masters, Kelly’s Republican opponent in the Nov. 8 general election, repeatedly has hit Kelly on the campaign trail as having allowed runaway spending under President Joe Biden to drive up consumer prices.
Kelly, a member of the Joint Economic Committee in Congress, said inflation matters and he is working to help tame it.
“I’m talking to folks all across the state, and that is the single biggest thing,” he said, adding that he has encouraged Biden to help make fuel more easily available.
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“I’ve told the president you’ve got to do more. You’ve got to release petroleum from the strategic reserve and we have to increase oil and gas production,” Kelly said. “I get that we have long-term climate problems, but when people can’t go to work because they can’t put gas in their car, that is a near-term crisis for a family.”
