Gabby Giffords’ husband to run to finish John McCain’s Senate term
Former astronaut Mark Kelly calls himself a centrist
PHOENIX — Retired astronaut Mark Kelly, who became a prominent gun-control advocate after his wife and former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was shot in a failed assassination attempt, announced Tuesday he will run to finish John McCain’s last term in the U.S. Senate.
If he wins the Democratic nomination, Kelly would take on Republican Martha McSally, a trailblazing Air Force pilot, in what is expected to be one of the most closely contested Senate races of the 2020 election.
Kelly described himself as an independent-minded centrist who will take a scientist’s data-driven approach to solving problems such as climate change, wage stagnation and health care affordability.
“You see a lot of partisanship in Washington and a lot of polarization, and to some extent we’ve created that,” Kelly told The Associated Press. “It’s going to take people who are more independent to fix it. Arizonans value independence.”
McSally is a former Republican congresswoman who was appointed to McCain’s seat after she narrowly lost to Democrat Kyrsten Sinema last November in the race for outgoing Republican Jeff Flake’s seat. McSally leaned heavily on her record as the first woman to fly a combat mission, but she was hurt by her embrace of President Donald Trump.
Kelly decried politicians who “ignore data and facts, and in some cases don’t even believe in science,” but did not take on Trump directly, saying he’s “not going to focus on the presidency or the White House.”
The 2020 election will decide who finishes the last two years of McCain’s term. The winner would have to run again for a full six-year term in 2022.
Kelly has never held elected office. He flew combat missions during the first Gulf War and was a Navy test pilot before becoming an astronaut. He flew four space missions over 10 years and commanded the Space Shuttle Endeavor in 2011.