Mark Kelly defeats Martha McSally for US Senate
Democrat Mark Kelly has unseated Republican incumbent Sen. Martha McSally in Arizona’s special election, flipping a longtime GOP seat blue and giving Arizonans their first pair of Democratic senators to represent the state since the 1950s.
On Wednesday afternoon, Kelly claimed a decisive victory and said he was honored to follow in the footsteps of a seat won six times by the late Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.
“I am deeply honored that Arizonans have trusted me to be their next United States Senator and to serve in this seat once held by Senator McCain,” Kelly said in a written statement. “We
woke up today still facing a pandemic, a struggling economy, and deep division in our country.
“While elections officials continue the important work of ensuring every vote is counted, I am preparing for the job of being an independent voice for all Arizonans, regardless of who they voted for,” he continued. “We need to slow the spread of the virus, get our economy back on track, and defend health care protections for people with preexisting conditions.
“And I know that together, we can.” The Associated Press called Arizona’s closely watched race for Kelly at 12:51 a.m. Arizona time on Wednesday.
Through McSally has not conceded and her campaign was waiting for all ballots to be counted, Kelly’s focus has shifted to transitioning to the Senate.
Kelly will join the Senate when it returns from recess for its post-election, lame-duck session and would help to narrow Republicans’ 53-47 majority in the chamber. He would have a vote on any potential legislation, which could include another coronavirus stimulus package, judicial nominees and action on government funding.
Don Ritchie, the Senate’s former historian, said congressional staffers would work quickly to move McSally out of her office in the Russell Senate Office Building, which Kelly would likely occupy, at least for a time.
“They’re out of there right away. I mean, they’re vacated almost immediately,” he said. “Between the Election Day and the day in which the new senator was sworn in, they would have to clear everything out as well as her staff. … There are people who work at the Senate who do a lot of work redoing offices and office space” to reconfigure how the new senator wants the space used.
Political analysts in Arizona anticipate he will draw from the tight-knit team of advisers who have worked with his campaign and his wife’s campaigns and congressional office.
Kelly, a first-time candidate, retired NASA astronaut and husband of former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., won on a message of partisan independence, science-based decision-making, affordable health care and insurance coverage for preexisting medical conditions against the backdrop of a lethal pandemic.
Because it was a special election to fill the remainder of a term won by
McCain, Kelly is expected to be sworn in as soon as election results are certified, which falls on Nov. 30, barring a prolonged legal battle.
Early results show Kelly carried the state’s two major metro areas of Maricopa County and Pima County, while McSally won most of the rural areas of the state.
Kelly’s win accelerated the upheaval in the state’s political landscape, which has rapidly shifted from dependably red, to purple in 2018, to blue this cycle.
In the span of two years, Arizona went from being represented by two Republican senators, McCain and Jeff Flake, to two Democratic senators.
Since 2018, McSally has lost each of the state’s two Senate seats, in consecutive cycles.
Kelly, a former Navy combat pilot, will represent Arizona alongside Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., who beat McSally during her first run for the state’s other Senate seat in 2018. She campaigned for Kelly in the closing weeks of the race.
Sinema called Kelly by phone to congratulate him on his win Wednesday morning. In a written statement, she said she was proud that Kelly rejected running a campaign of “petty politics of name-calling and false personal attacks,” a reference to the strategy employed by McSally.
“I look forward to partnering with him to cut through Washington dysfunction to deliver for everyday Arizonans, and I thank Martha McSally for her service,” Sinema said.
The early election-night results were consistent with polls conducted in the months and weeks before the election, which showed Kelly leading McSally.
On election night, a McSally cam
paign spokesperson signaled after the race was called that McSally was not giving up on the race.
“Hundreds of thousands of votes have still not been counted,” Caroline Anderegg said in a written statement. “Every Arizonan deserves to have their voice heard and vote counted. We continue to monitor returns. The voters of Arizona decide this election, not media outlets.”
McSally’s campaign did not elaborate on how much, or how little, it saw the remainder of outstanding votes affecting the final outcome.
During his 13-minute remarks to supporters on election night, Kelly thanked his deceased parents, both of whom were police officers, and his family.
He called for the Senate to get busy working on the needs of Arizonans who are still struggling due to the coronavirus pandemic. Kelly also pledged to be a senator for the entire state in the mold of McCain.
“This mission does not end when the last vote is counted. It is only the beginning,” Kelly said, comparing it with the preparation for space during his time as an astronaut for NASA. “Now the work starts.”
Republic reporters Ronald J. Hansen, Rafael Carranza and José-Ignacio Castañeda Perez contributed to this article.
Have news to share about Arizona’s U.S. senators or national politics? Reach the reporter at yvonne.wingett@ arizonarepublic.com and 602-444-4712.
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