So who won the debate last night in the US Senate race in Arizona? Was it incumbent Democrat Mark Kelly, Republican nominee Blake Masters, or the Libertarian candidate who wanted to debate age-of-consent laws? No, really:

“We are a constitutional republic—not an unrestricted democracy”

“…but the age of consent should be up for a vote” pic.twitter.com/nPQDeI9M5T

— Nate Hochman (@njhochman) October 7, 2022

Ahem. For what it’s worth, ages of consent are set by statutes in each state, so … they do get voted on. Plus, this issue has nothing to do with the jurisdiction of the US Senate. Maybe Victor is running for the wrong office. He certainly has his finger on the pulse of American voters and their high priority for lowering the age of consent, though!

Anyway, we can be reasonably certain that the contest last night was between Kelly and Masters. So who won? As most American media outlets do, The Hill’s analysis tried to offer pluses for both candidates. As a Democratic incumbent in what looks like a red-wave turnout, Kelly needed to paint Masters into corners. Instead, Masters appears to have controlled the outcome and hung Joe Biden, the border, and inflation around Kelly’s neck:

A pugnacious Masters largely stayed disciplined during the debate, avoiding any major gaffes and often successfully putting Kelly on the defensive, at times going so far as to ask the senator questions himself before the moderator stepped in.

Among the issues the Republican seized on was the border, asking why Kelly voted against an amendment introduced for the Inflation Reduction Act that would have required another 18,000 Border Patrol agents to be hired before additional IRS staff got hired.

The attacks sometimes appeared to put Kelly on the back foot.

“There are votes that happen in D.C. that have nothing to do with Border Patrol agents — that might have the title on it and nothing happens,” Kelly argued at one point before listing how he’s worked to achieve more staffing for Border Patrol.

Masters also hit Kelly repeatedly on the issue of abortion, claiming the senator supported no limits to the procedure and was an “abortion radical.” The Democrat, for his part, pushed back against the attacks and accused Masters of supporting a total abortion ban, which the Republican denied.

That’s not just reading between the lines here, either. The British newspaper Independent scored it a knockout for Masters, which got picked up by Yahoo Sports this afternoon for some reason. The word “pummels” in the headline might be the reason why:

Trump-backed Blake Masters pummels Mark Kelly over Biden, borders and inflation in testy Arizona debate

Trump-backed Republican Blake Masters pummeled his Democratic rival over “open borders”, Joe Biden and the soaring cost of living in a bad-tempered debate in Arizona on Thursday.

A month before voters across the country go the polls in mid-term elections that will determine the control of Congress, Mr Masters laid into incumbent senator Mark Kelly, accusing him and Mr Biden of letting inflation surge out of control and failing to lock-down the nation’s borders.

At times, particularly in the first half of the debate when Mr Masters appeared to have the momentum, Mr Kelly was saved by the intervention of Libertarian Mark Victor, who often denounced both Republicans and Democrats and claimed he had better ideas than both.

The pummeling got intense on the border issue. At one point, Kelly declared that border security had been his focus “since day one,” which is quite a claim considering how badly Joe Biden and his administration have bungled it. That prompted Masters to suggest that Kelly should resign in shame, if that were the case:

Democrat Sen. Mark Kelly: "I've been focused on the border since day one."@bgmasters: "We have a wide open southern border, so if that's the best you can do, I respectfully request you resign." 🔥🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/lKxpaL9ZGY

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) October 7, 2022

Duane Patterson watched the whole debate as part of his prep for this morning’s Hugh Hewitt show, and he plays a few more clips from the debate on the latest episode of The Ed Morrissey Show podcast. No one will be surprised to learn that Duane scored it a knockout for Masters either, but he certainly provides some evidence for it. In fact, speaking of evidence …

“I’m here to report a murder,” Duane tells me. “Mark Kelly got his ass kicked — I mean up, down, and sideways.” Masters really scored on Kelly regarding inflation, Duane says, a particular concern for retirees in a state filled with them, and hung Chuck Schumer’s radical abortion bill around his neck. And in yet another clip, Kelly tried to duck his vote on a bill by claiming that bill titles have nothing to do with the bill language, which not only made Kelly look evasive but also complicit in a campaign to hoodwink and gaslight voters.

“What happens when you’re explaining?” Duane asks. “You’re losing.”

Be sure to watch the full podcast to see all of the Masters-Kelly clips, plus an interview I did with Janine Marrone of Support after Abortion. My latest SRN editorial can be seen in the podcast as well!

• Just how well did Blake Masters do in his debate against Mark Kelly in the AZ Senate race? Duane Patterson brings the clips and we analyze the status of the race.
• We also discuss Mary Katharine Ham’s revelation of her secret suspension at CNN ordered by Jeff Zucker, and discuss the new jobs report and the war in Ukraine.
• I also spek with Janine Marrone about her organization Support Afer Abortion and a new study’s findings on the damage abortion does.

The Ed Morrissey Show is now a fully downloadable and streamable show at  Spotify, Apple Podcasts, the TEMS Podcast YouTube channel, and on Rumble and our own in-house portal at the #TEMS page!