Liberal groups ramp up Arizona Senate race spending with new TV spot

A pair of liberal groups are spending $800,000 on a TV spot to boost Arizona Democratic Senate candidate Richard Carmona in a race that until recently had trended Republican.

The League of Conservation Voters (LCV) and Majority PAC are working together on the advertisement, which will air Saturday through Nov. 6. The ad hits GOP candidate Rep. Jeff Flake for a voting record that the groups say is influenced by his past job as a lobbyist for a uranium-mining firm.

“No wonder Flake sponsored legislation to allow uranium mining that would threaten the Colorado River,” the advertisement says, referring to a rider Flake tacked onto the fiscal 2012 Interior Department appropriations bill that would have permitted uranium mining near the Grand Canyon.

LCV made the same claim last week in a $400,000 ad buy, which marked the group’s entry into the race.

Andrew Wilder, spokesman with the Flake campaign, told The Hill on Friday that research shows “responsible mining” in that area would pose no risk to the Colorado River, citing a study by the Arizona Geological Survey.

“Richard Carmona and his liberal patrons can try to deceive Arizonans about Jeff Flake's record of supporting economic development in the Arizona Strip, but they simply do not have science on their side,” he said.

Carmona, the former U.S. surgeon general, has been gaining in the polls after failing to gain much traction through most of the campaign.

“This has become a truly competitive race. We have the chance with Rich Carmona to elect a real ally to the Senate,” Jeff Gohringer, LCV spokesman, told The Hill.

RealClearPolitics, a website that aggregates polling data, shows Flake with a 0.7 percentage point lead.

The Hill rates the race as a toss-up.