Democrat Mark Kelly Defeats Republican Martha Mcsally In Arizona Senate Race
Democrat Mark Kelly has defeated Republican Sen. Martha McSally in Arizona, NBC News projected on Friday, giving Democrats a Senate pickup in the state.
Kelly, a former NASA astronaut, declared himself the winner earlier in the week.
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 John McCain, he said in a series of tweets Wednesday night.
We woke up today still facing a pandemic, a struggling economy, and deep division in our country, he wrote. We need to slow the spread of the virus, get our economy back on track, and defend health care protections for people with pre-existing conditions. And I know that together, we can.
Kelly, 56, is the husband of former Rep. Gabby Giffords, who survived being shot in the head in 2011 at a constituent event. The couple founded the Giffords Foundation, which supports gun control laws around the country.
The win puts both of the states Senate seats in the hands of DemocratsKelly and Kyrsten Sinema, who was elected in 2018. Sinema congratulated Kelly in a tweeted statement Wednesday. I am confident Mark will uphold the Arizona values of seeking common ground and putting country above party, she wrote.
Kelly, in his first bid for public office, ran as a moderate who would be above the partisan bickering in Washington.
McSally trailed Kelly in the polls throughout the race and raised significantly less money.
Early Life And Education
Scott Kelly was born, along with his identical twin brother , on February 21, 1964, in Orange, New Jersey, to Patricia and Richard Kelly. Kelly’s family lived in West Orange, where his parents worked as police officers. Kelly and his brother graduated from West Orange Mountain High School in 1982. While in high school, Kelly worked as an emergency medical technician in Orange and Jersey City, New Jersey.:32â41
After graduating from high school, Kelly enrolled at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. During his freshman year, Kelly read The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe, and was inspired to pursue a career in naval aviation.:40â41 After his freshman year, Kelly transferred to State University of New York Maritime College, where he received a Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps scholarship. During the summer after his freshman year, Kelly sailed aboard SUNY Maritime’s training ship, Empire State V, and stopped in Mallorca, Hamburg, and London. After his sophomore year, Kelly sailed again on Empire State V.:55â66 He served as the student battalion commander for his school’s Navy ROTC detachment, and graduated with a Bachelor of Engineering degree in electrical engineering in 1987.:107â110 Kelly later earned a Master of Science degree in aviations systems from the University of Tennessee.
Arizonas Political Odd Couple Reveals Two Distinct Paths For Democrats
Despite being from the same party and same state, Senators Kyrsten Sinema and Mark Kelly give differing answers as to how party might keep power
When Democrat Mark Kelly was sworn in to office late last year it marked the end of a nearly 70-year drought of Arizona being represented by two Democrats.
But since then Kelly, a former astronaut, and his counterpart senator, Kyrsten Sinema, have plotted decidedly different paths in the Senate. Despite being from the same party and the same state and representing the same electorate, the pair of Arizona Democrats have become a sort of political odd couple.
The twists and turns that each Arizona Democrat took to get into office and the moves they are making to retain their seats reveal two distinct paths Democrats can take to win and retain tough Senate seats. But they can also give differing answers as to how Democrats might keep power, or even extend it.
Sinema, a longtime Arizona lawmaker and former Democratic member of the House of Representatives, has carved out a reputation as one of the most conservative members of the Democratic caucus in the chamber. Her name is almost synonymous with Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia and bucking the Democratic party on key sticking points.
Sinema has split with her fellow Democrats on a minimum wage hike to $15 and support for an overhaul to the legislativefilibuster. Among the press corps she is also notorious for avoiding virtually all interviews.
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Relation To Marital Status And Parenthood
Americans that identify as single, living with a domestic partner, divorced, separated, or widowed are more likely to vote Democratic in contrast to married Americans which split about equally between Democrat and Republican.
General Social Surveys of more than 11,000 Democrats and Republicans conducted between 1996 and 2006 came to the result that the differences in fertility rates are not statistically significant between these parties, with the average Democrat having 1.94 children and the average Republican having 1.91 children. However, there is a significant difference in fertility rates between the two related groups liberals and conservatives, with liberals reproducing at a much lower rate than conservatives.
Ballot Processing In Pima County
Deputy Scott Woodworth, left, and Deputy Andrew Conrad of the Pima County Sheriffâs Department stand outside of the Pima County Elections Center on November 5, 2020. Due to some gatherings around the country at election offices, deputies are on site to help keep the peace. Photo by Mamta Popat / Arizona Daily Star
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Senate Race Is About More Than Mark Kelly
But back to Kelly. Hes considered a vulnerable Democrat in this years war to control the Senate, which currently has a 50-50 split. His impressive fundraising bodes well for him because it shows a lot of people are more than willing to shell out cash to help him face whoever wins the GOP primary.
Kellys campaign says more than 125,000 people made 250,000 donations this quarter, with the average donation of $34.
Lets not kid ourselves, though. Republicans and their supporters will not let money stand in the way. Theyll throw millions behind Kellys challenger regardless if the candidate is weak or not right for Arizona.
Democrats, too, know theyll need to dig up a goldmine to defend Kelly because this race isnt about Kelly.
Sure, hes a cool former NASA astronaut. But, most importantly, he was the right Arizonan to defeat Republican Sen. Martha McSally and represent this border state in the U.S. Congress amid the most consequential political turmoil in recent history.
Kelly must know this race isnt about him but about the future of the United States as a democratic republic, given the GOPs all-out war on fair elections.
Rolling your eyes already? I can almost see readers doing exactly that, given the number who fire off emails to me saying so.
Kellys biggest challenge is to fight this kind of apathy or disbelief that the nation is in danger from within, even if the war is raging before their eyes.
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Orbiter Boom Sensor System
STS-134 left its Orbiter Boom Sensor System permanently on the ISS for use in reaching places that the Canadarm2 cannot get to on its own. The usefulness of having an OBSS available for use at the station was demonstrated during Scott Parazynski‘s repair of the torn P6 solar panel on STS-120. The feasibility of leaving an OBSS attached to ISS for a long period of time was demonstrated when the STS-123 mission left one behind for use during the subsequent STS-124 mission.
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Arizona Voters Poll Shows Democratic Sen Mark Kelly Leads Over Potential Gop Opponents
PHOENIX A recent poll of voters in Arizona shows incumbent Democratic U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly leading all potential Republican opponents in head-to-head matchups.
Kelly is back on the ballot for 2022 after winning the seat in 2020 during a special election to finish the late Sen. John McCains term, giving Arizona two Democrat senators for the first time since January 1953.
OH Predictive Insights conducted a poll of 882 registered Arizona voters from Sept. 7 to Sept. 12, with 35% identifying as Republican, 32% as Democrat and 33% as independent.
Kelly leads the potential head-to-head matchup of each Republican who has thrown their name in the hat to possibly replace the Democrat, made up of Attorney General Mark Brnovich, retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Michael McGuire and businessmen Blake Masters and Jim Lamon.
Evidently, Kelly is attempting to keep a low profile in an off-year while his opponents try to build up name recognition a strategy that seems to be working, at least for now, Mike Noble, OHPI chief of research, said in the release.
The Republican field is very much up in the air, the poll found, with 51% of the partys voters being unsure which of their candidate to vote for.
Brnovich leads the group with 27%, followed by McGuire , Masters and Lamon .
Kelly in a potential head-to-head matchup leads Brnovich 43% to 39% with 18% unsure which of the two they would vote for, according to the poll.
Data And Science Have Driven My Lifes Work
I bring a different set of experiences as a combat pilot, engineer and astronaut. I have spent my life using data and science to solve problems and accomplish difficult missions. Thats the experience I can bring to the Senate to work for Arizona.
So many Arizonans are losing sleep because they cant afford their health care, because they arent working during this pandemic, because their kids are struggling with virtual learning. But looking at the response from Washington, you wouldnt know it.
Its been six months since the Senate passed the last COVID-19 relief package, and since then, they have gone on vacation four times.
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Years Later He May Be ‘open’ To A Rules Change
In October, with 11 days to go before the election, I took a shot at trying to pin Kelly down, thinking voters should know where he stands on a major rule change that could clear the way for Democrats to ram through their agenda.
I dont think Ill have much to expand beyond that answer, spokesman Jacob Peters told me at the time, referring to Kellys Gaggle interview. But Ill circle back around to you.
In June 2021, Kelly was apparently still studying the issue.
The rules can be changed, he told KOLD. Ill evaluate any real proposal in changing rules not based on whats best for Democrats and Republicans, but whats best for our country and the state of Arizona. We dont have a real proposal on that yet.
During a private June 22 Zoom call with two other senators, Kelly said hes open to some change in the rules governing the filibuster though he wouldnt elaborate.
Theres no other democracy, as far as I know, that works the way the United States Senate does. So structurally, its got major issues. I would like to see us, you know, change the rules, Kelly said, during the call.
In October, he told CNN he’d be open a onetime rule change of filibuster rules so Democrats could raise the debt ceiling on a party line vote.
Despite Huge Funding Lead In Senate Race Mark Kelly Still Faces A Challenge
By: Alexia Stanbridge/Cronkite News– February 2, 2022 10:56 am
WASHINGTON Arizona Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly has raised more than $27.5 million for his reelection bid this fall, almost twice the total raised by a half-dozen Republican challengers, according to new campaign finance reports.
But political analysts said Kellys giant war chest the fourth-most among Senate campaigns nationwide in 2021 does not guarantee a win in a state like Arizona during a year that is expected to be rough for Democrats.
He could have unlimited amounts of money but if the political environment is really bad for Democrats, as it might be, there may be no amount of money he could spend that saves himself, said Kyle Kondik, managing editor of Sabatos Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia Center for Politics. He calls the Arizona Senate race a toss-up.
But for now, Kellys in a good position. Besides a sizable fundraising lead, he does not have a Democratic primary challenger, while his would-be Republican opponents face a bruising and costly primary before they can turn their sights on Kelly.
A poll released Tuesday by OH Predictive Insights showed Kelly would get 42% of the vote to 38% for any Republican candidate, with 19% of voters undecided. The online poll of 855 registered Arizona voters was taken Jan. 11-13 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.4%.
Another challenge for Republicans is name recognition. Except for Brnovich, few are well-known to state voters.
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Democrat Mark Kelly To Be Sworn In As Senator This Week
Washington Mark Kelly, a Democrat who defeated incumbent Republican Senator Martha McSally in the Arizona Senate race earlier this month, will be sworn in Wednesday at 12 p.m. ET, according to a senior Democratic aide.
Kelly and McSally went head-to-head in a special election November 3 to determine who will finish the remainder of the late Senator John McCains six-year term, which ends in 2022. McCain, a Republican, died in 2018, and McSally was appointed by Governor Doug Ducey.
Kellys win over McSally flipped a key seat for Democrats, who are working to take control of the Senate and give the party full control of two branches of government in Washington. But whether Democrats are successful in wrestling the majority from the GOP will not be determined until early January with the results of two runoff elections in Georgia, where incumbent Republican Senators David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler are vying to hold their seats.
Still, once Kelly is sworn in as a U.S. senator this week, Democrats will hold 48 seats to Republicans 52. His victory also gives Democrats both of Arizonas Senate seats for the first time in nearly 70 years. Senator Kyrsten Sinema, who defeated McSally in 2018, holds the other seat.
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Sensor Test Of Orion Rel
The Orion Rel-nav Sensor was mounted on the Orbiter Docking System in Trajectory Control Sensor slot 1 and on an Adaptive Payload Carrier in the bay 3 port of the Payload Bay. For the STORRM Detailed Test Objective , after Endeavour undocked, it completed its normal fly-around of the station. The crew then guided Endeavour back towards the station, flying a nominal orbiter trajectory for docking to the ISS’s Pressurized Mating Adapter-2. However, the shuttle did not actually dock with the ISS again instead, it was positioned below the station.
On STS-131, the docking target on the ISS was enhanced with reflectors, to allow for the characterization of the Orion Rel-Nav sensors’ performance during STS-134’s rendezvous and proximity operations with the ISS. These proximity operations were tested during approach and docking, undocking, flyaround , and during a modified separation from the ISS. During the modified separation, the crew performed a series of re-rendezvous burns that put the orbiter on an Orion-like rendezvous profile. Afterwards, instead of re-docking to the ISS, the crew performed a full separation.
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Republican Senate Candidate Sparks Fury With Campaign Ad Showing Him Shooting At Biden Nancy Pelosi And Mark Kelly
- A Republican candidate running for his party’s nomination to face Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona this fall has sparked fury with a new Western-style ad
- Ad shows Jim Lamon dressed as a sheriff, shooting at actors playing Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly, President Joe Biden and Speaker Nancy Pelosi
- Kelly is married to Gabby Giffords, the former congresswoman who was shot in the head at an event with constituents in 2011
- ‘DISGUSTING,’ wrote the founder of the group Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America Sharon Watts
- Lamon doubled down on ad, which will air in Arizona during the Super Bowl
- Kelly’s campaign has not commented on ad but Lamon’s rivals for the GOP nomination criticized it
Immigration And Border Security
During Giffords tenure in the House, Arizona’s 8th Congressional District was one of ten in the country bordering Mexico. Giffords has stated that the Arizona SB 1070 legislation is a “clear calling that the federal government needs to do a better job” and says that she hopes the legislation acts as a wake-up call to the federal government. However, she stopped short of supporting the law itself, saying that it “does nothing to secure our border” and that it “stands in direct contradiction to our past and, as a result, threatens our future.” She also claimed that SB1070 kept Arizona from attracting students and businesses.
On August 31, 2010, Giffords praised the arrival of National Guard troops on the border: “Arizonans have waited a long time for the deployment of the National Guard in our state. Their arrival represents a renewed national commitment to protecting our border communities from drug cartels and smugglers.”
Giffords worked to secure passage of the August 2010 bill to fund more Border Patrol agents and surveillance technology for Arizona’s border with Mexico. The legislation passed the House of Representatives only to be sent back by the U.S. Senate with reduced funding. Ultimately a $600-million bill was passed and signed into law. The bill was over $100 million less than Giffords fought for, but she said, “This funding signals a stronger federal commitment to protect those Americans who live and work near the border.”
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