GOP Senate Hopeful Looking at Attack from Right Over Immigration Reform

The Hill reported that: Arizona Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) is brushing back criticism of his record on immigration as he embarks on a run for the seat of retiring Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), saying Tuesday that hits on his record from the right won’t stick. Arizona conservatives have struck Flake hard in the past on the immigration issue, and it will undoubtedly come up in any Republican primary. Flake has supported efforts for comprehensive immigration reform in the past, teaming up with Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) in 2007 to introduce the STRIVE Act, a reform plan that included the creation of a temporary-worker program and a path to citizenship. “I have the most conservative district in the state and I’ve had primaries periodically on the immigration issue,” Flake told The Hill on Tuesday. “Arizona voters are very sophisticated on this issue. They know where I stand on this.” Flake said any suggestion that he supports, or has ever supported, amnesty for illegal immigrants is nothing but a trumped-up charge his political opponents have tried to level against him in recent years.