FORMER ASTRONAUT MARK KELLY SWORN IN AS SENATOR
Both Ariz. senators Democrats for first time in 6 decades
Democrat Mark Kelly was sworn in to the Senate on Wednesday, marking the first time in more than 67 years that Arizona will have two Democratic senators.
Kelly, 56, a former astronaut and the husband of former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., defeated Republican Sen. Martha McSally in a special election last month. The seat was once held by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who died in 2018. McSally was appointed to the seat but came up short this year in her race against Kelly, who will be up for a full six-year term in 2022.
Vice President Mike Pence administered the oath, and Arizona’s senior senator, Kyrsten Sinema, a Democrat, accompanied Kelly and held the Bible. All three wore masks. Republicans and Democrats in the chamber applauded.
Kelly joins Sinema, a former congresswoman who won election to the Senate in 2018, also defeating McSally.
The last time Arizona was represented by two Democrats was in January 1953, when Ernest McFarland and Carl Hayden were the state’s senators. McFarland, who was then the Senate majority leader, lost reelection in 1952 to Republican Barry Goldwater.
Kelly was not the only Democrat to claim a statewide victory in Arizona this year: President-elect Joe Biden also won the state, becoming the first Democratic presidential nominee to do so since Bill Clinton in 1996.
The Grand Canyon State’s transformation from a conservative stronghold to a swing state is a result of a decade of work by Mexican American activists, demographic change and the consolidation of independent voters behind Biden. The dynamics were also inf luenced by President Donald Trump’s attacks on McCain, whose widow, Cindy McCain, endorsed Biden.
Giffords watched her husband’s swearing-in from the visitors’ gallery, a rare occurrence as the public galleries in the chamber have been largely closed since mid-March because of the coronavirus.
Giffords retired from Congress after surviving a 2011 assassination attempt by a gunman. She and Kelly have become well-known advocates of gun control.
Later, during a ceremonial swearing-in in the Old Senate Chamber, Pence mentioned Kelly’s experience as a former astronaut and said he hoped he would be an advocate for further strengthening NASA.
“You’ll be an invaluable voice building on the progress we’ve made,” Pence said. “We’ve gotten the human space exploration back rolling where it needs to be.”
Kelly’s replacement of McSally trims the GOP’s Senate majority to 52-to-48 for the last days of the lameduck session. Two runoff elections in Georgia on Jan. 5 will decide control of the Senate next year at the start of the Biden presidency.