Candidate Comparison:

Arizona Senate

Mark Kelly (D)

Blake Masters (R)

Wages

Kelly is committed to ensuring that people are paid a fair wage, saying, “We have to support working families and make sure everyone has the opportunity to earn a living wage.” Moreover, Kelly supported a measure in the Senate to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour.	Masters has the support of anti-worker politicians who oppose the minimum wage.
Kelly voted for the Paycheck Fairness Act, which would update and strengthen the Equal Pay Act to make it harder for employers to hide gender pay discrimination. [1]	Masters said the gender pay gap doesn’t exist, calling it a “left-wing narrative.” He said, “Men are the ones who are doing risky, you know, fishing crab in Alaska and sometimes those jobs pay more.” [2]

Paid Time Off & Sick Leave

Kelly voted for the American Rescue Plan Act, which provided federal employees with emergency paid leave during the pandemic. [3]	Masters has not said anything about what he would do to support working families who need to take care of an ill loved one or their own illness. [4]

Helping Essential Workers

Kelly is a strong advocate for essential workers. He voted for the American Rescue Plan Act which provided $1.9 trillion to facilitate COVID-19 recovery, including billions for public health measures such as PPE and millions of dollars for worker protection activities. [5]	Masters is supported by antiworker politicians who failed to protect workers during the pandemic. [6]

Health Care

Kelly voted for the Inflation Reduction Act, which protects the Affordable Care Act, lowers prescription drug costs, and caps insulin costs at $35 for Medicare enrollees. Kelly supports a more widespread insulin cap as well, saying, “There’s no good reason for lifesaving drugs like insulin to be as expensive as they are.” He cosponsored the Affordable Insulin Now Act, which would cap the price of insulin at $35 a month for everyone.	Masters called the Affordable Care Act, which expanded insurance coverage to millions of Arizonans, a “disaster.” Masters has criticized the Inflation Reduction Act, which protects the Affordable Care Act, lowers prescription drug costs, and caps insulin costs at $35 for Medicare enrollees. [8]
Kelly cosponsored the Empowering Medicare Seniors to Negotiate Drug Prices Act, which will enable Medicare to negotiate the cost of prescription drugs for Arizona’s seniors enrolled in Medicare Part D.
Kelly voted for the No Surprises Act, which protects consumers from surprise medical bills. [7]

Economic Insecurity & Inflation

Kelly voted for the Inflation Reduction Act, which, invests hundreds of billions in energy and climate reform, lowers prescription drug costs and caps insulin at $35 for Medicare recipients, combats inflation, and creates a 15% minimum tax on corporations with over $1 billion in income.	Masters opposed the Inflation Reduction Act which invests hundreds of billions in energy and climate reform, lowers prescription drug costs and caps insulin at $35 for Medicare recipients, combats inflation, and creates a 15% minimum tax on corporations with over $1 billion in income.
Kelly is committed to addressing rising gas prices. He sponsored the Gas Prices Relief Act of 2022, which would temporarily suspend the federal gas tax and supports releasing oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to address high fuel prices. [9]	Masters opposed Senator Kelly’s legislation to suspend the federal gas tax and has even called for privatizing Social Security. [10]

Unions & Labor

Kelly said that “unions are important” and that he “will stand with them and American workers against the constant attacks on collective bargaining and workers’ rights.”	Masters is a proudly anti-union candidate and has been supported by anti-worker politicians. [12]
He has received endorsements from multiple unions including United Food & Commercial Workers Local 99, Communications Workers of America (CWA) and CWA Arizona State Council, AFSCME Local 2960, and the Southwest Regional Council of Carpenters. [11]

CHECK THE FACTS:

Twitter, @CaptMarkKelly, 10/28/2020; United States Senate, H.R. 7, 6/8/2021; AFL-CIO, 6/8/2021; Arizona Republic, 3/5/2021.
Arizona Republic, 5/12/2022; Vox, 10/22/2020; CNBC, 7/18/2019; CNN, 6/2/2022.
U.S. House of Representatives, H.R. 1319, 3/11/2021; U.S. House of Representatives, H.R. 1319, Roll Call #110, 3/6/2021; AFL-CIO, 3/11/2021.
Reuters, 8/3/2020; CNN, 6/2/2022.
U.S. House of Representatives, H.R. 1319, 3/11/2021; U.S. House of Representatives, H.R. 1319, Roll Call #110, 3/6/2021; AFL-CIO, 3/11/2021.
USA Today, 9/7/2020; CNN, 6/2/2022.
U.S. Senate, Vote Number 325, 8/7/2022; NPR, 8/7/2022; Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, 8/1/2022; CNBC, 8/16/2022; Twitter, @CaptMarkKelly, 4/19/2022; Tammy Duckworth, 3/23/2022; U.S. Senate, S. 3700, 2/17/2022; Senator Mark Kelly, 3/24/2021; Senator Mark Kelly, 1/3/2022; Twitter, @CaptMarkKelly, 6/9/2021; Senator Mark Kelly, 3/11/2022; U.S. Senate, S. 708, 3/11/2022; Senator Mark Kelly, 5/13/2022; Senator Tammy Duckworth, 5/19/2022.
Arizona Democrats, 3/23/2022; Vox, 1/19/2021; CNN, 6/2/2022; Twitter, @bgmasters, 8/17/2022.
U.S. Senate, Vote Number 325, 8/7/2022; U.S. Senate, S. 3609, 2/29/2022; Associated Press, 2/9/2022; Senator Mark Kelly, 5/19/2022; Senator Mark Kelly, 2/25/2022; Senator Mark Kelly, 1/11/2022; U.S. Senate, S. 3580, 2/3/2022; Mark Kelly, 6/16/2022.
Fox News, 8/12/2022; Breitbart, 8/8/2022; NPR, 8/7/2022; Arizona Republic, 8/10/2022; Arizona Democrats, 2/17/2022.
Twitter, @CaptMarkKelly, 9/2/2018; Mark Kelly for U.S. Senate, 9/12/2019; Communication Workers of America, accessed 7/13/2022; Mark Kelly for U.S. Senate, 9/17/2019; Twitter, @CaptMarkKelly, 10/11/2019.
Twitter, @bgmasters, 2/9/2022; Twitter, @bgmasters, 9/23/2021; Communications Workers of America, accessed 6/23/2022; CNN, 6/2/2022.