Oklahoma Congressman Jim Bridenstine and Virginia State Senator Col. Richard Black endorse former Arizona State Senator Dr. Kelli Ward in her bid to replace 30-year incumbent Senator John McCain in the U.S. Senate. Both Bridenstine and Black, elected officials with significant national security backgrounds, are confident in Ward’s ability to support America’s military and veterans.

Bridenstine said of Ward in his endorsement:

Dr. Kelli Ward is a proven conservative leader. As a military wife and physician, she knows what it will take to rebuild our military and hold the VA accountable. As a former Navy pilot and combat veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan, I am proud to endorse Dr. Kelli Ward for the United States Senate.

A nine-year active duty veteran of the U.S. Navy, Bridenstine served as a pilot and later served the U.S. Navy Reserve and Oklahoma Air National Guard. Elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2012, he serves on the House Armed Services Committee and the Science, Space and Technology Committee.

Ward responded to Bridenstine’s endorsement, saying:

Congressman Bridenstine is an American hero and a proven conservative leader who has kept his word on Constitutional integrity, fiscal responsibility, and national security. I look forward to working with outstanding leaders like him as a conservative champion for Arizona’s future in the U.S. Senate.

Virginia State Senator Richard Black said in his endorsement of the former Arizona State Senator:

I strongly endorse Dr. Kelli Ward for U.S. Senate. As a combat-wounded officer who served on the Pentagon’s General Staff, I am deeply concerned by Senator McCain’s support for violent Islamic jihadists.  It is imperative that voters remove him from the U.S. Senate.

John McCain has done immeasurable damage to the prestige and national security of the United States. His support for regime change in countries like Libya and Syria has empowered al Qaeda and unleashed a torrent of bloodshed. By supporting Saudi Arabia’s violent jihadist schemes, he helped unleash terrorist attacks across the globe.

Kelli Ward is conservative, energetic, and highly-intelligent. She has a firm grasp of foreign affairs, and, unlike John McCain, she is not beholden to Islamic tyrants. Kelli Ward will be a leader in the U.S. Senate. She will defend America’s interests and finally begin defending Arizona’s borders. The time to retire John McCain is now and to put America’s interests first!

Col. Black served eight years from 1998 to 2006 in Virginia’s House of Delegates and assumed office in the State Senate in 2012. He enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps in 1963, served in Vietnam and holds a Purple Heart for wounds suffered in battle. He later earned a law degree and served as a Major in the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps (JAG). Admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court, Black has also held Top Secret security clearance and served as a division chief at the Pentagon and advised the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Upon receiving these endorsements from elected officials with significant national security backgrounds, Ward stated:

Under Senator McCain’s failed national security leadership, our military equipment has crumbled, and the VA has fallen into shambles with American soldiers raiding aircraft museums for spare parts and veterans dying in wait lines. Foreign policy is actually John McCain’s Achilles heel, not his unassailable strongpoint. Since his incredibly feeble presidential campaign in 2008, McCain has been dangerously distracted from securing our borders while he’s been a reliable partner for all the worst aspects of President Obama’s agenda including the disastrous Arab Spring, arming our enemies to overturn stable terrorist­-fighting regimes, and he greased the skids for the terrible and unconstitutional nuclear deal with Iran.

Last week Ward met with military veterans as she discussed her plan for improving health care options for veterans including fixing the Veterans Administration. The physician and military wife called for greater power in the hands of veterans when it comes to their own health care needs.

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