ALTOONA, Pa. (WTAJ)– Senate Candidate Carla Sands joined WTAJ News At Noon on Tuesday to talk about her campaign for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate.

Sands is the former U.S. ambassador to Denmark, Finland and the Faroe Islands under the Trump administration. On the race for senate, Sands had this to say about her opponents Dr. Mehmet Oz and Dave McCormick, “We have, you know, two softer republicans that can’t close the deal. One, I call him ‘Turkey-first.’ One, I call ‘China-first.'”

She’s also, as of late, taken aim at Kathy Barnette. She said, “She lost her last race by 20 points to a weak democrat in a ‘red wave’ year. And that’s a landslide loss. We have to hold this seat in Republican hands. John Fetterman is a strong democrat. I will beat John Fetterman in November.”

One of Sands’ focuses on the campaign as being on energy in Pennsylvania. She detailed that she wants an “Operation Warp Speed” for natural gas production in the state. She explained, “That’s opportunity for Pennsylvania and for our country because Putin in Russia has shown us that energy is not just a commodity, it’s a weapon.”

Sands says she wants to produce energy in Pennsylvania that will not only power the state and the country but also our European allies to not have to rely on Russia.

The May primary is May 17 and the deadline to request a mail-in or absentee ballot is May 10.