Arizona governor taps McSally to fill McCain Senate seat

Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey has appointed fellow Republican Rep. Martha McSally to the Senate, he announced Tuesday, picking a favorite of GOP leaders to fill the seat John McCain held for decades.

McSally, who lost a close race for Arizona’s other Senate seat this year, will succeed Republican Sen. Jon Kyl. Kyl will step down at the end of the year following a brief time in McCain’s seat after McCain’s death in August.

“With her experience and long record of service, Martha is uniquely qualified to step up and fight for Arizona’s interests in the U.S. Senate. I thank her for taking on this significant responsibility,” Ducey said in a statement.

McSally is expected to run for the seat in a 2020 special election, setting the stage for a potential marquee contest in a battleground state. The seat will also be on the ballot in 2022.

“I am humbled and grateful to have this opportunity to serve and be a voice for all Arizonans,” McSally said in statement issued by Ducey’s office. She said she looked forward to working with Sen.elect Kyrsten Sinema, the Democrat who defeated her in November.

Ducey’s decision comes after weeks of tense relations with McSally and her political strategists. Last week, Ducey and his close confidants were frustrated with McSally — to the point that the governor’s interest in appointing her had diminished, according to two people familiar with this thinking.

But McSally remained a finalist, and in recent days, she had tried to improve her standing with Ducey and the other Republicans she clashed with during her campaign.

On Friday, McSally apologized to McCain’s widow, Cindy McCain, for her lack of praise for the senator on a defense bill named in his honor, according to two people familiar with the conversation, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe a private discussion. Ducey encouraged the meeting.

McSally, a one-time Trump critic, reinvented herself as a staunch supporter of the president during her Senate campaign. She largely avoided mentioning John McCain, who had traded public criticism with the president.

Her posture bothered McCain’s friends and family. Cindy McCain emphasized the importance of respecting the legacy of the seat during her meeting with McSally, according to the people familiar with their conversation.

A memo McSally’s campaign strategists issued after the election became another source of tension. Ducey and his confidants were angry with the document, which blamed her loss on external factors rather than reflecting on strategic decisions they made.