Retired astronaut Mark Kelly kicks off Arizona Senate bid

By JONATHAN J. COOPER
February 23, 2019

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — Retired astronaut Mark Kelly kicked off a “mission for Arizona” Saturday as he launched his U.S. Senate campaign with a rally in Tucson, the city where his wife, Gabrielle Giffords, survived a shooting when she was a congresswoman. That attack in 2011 led Kelly to leave NASA and become a political activist, pushing for gun control.

Kelly, who has never held elected office, is the first Democrat to enter the 2020 race. The seat is now held by Republican Martha McSally, a former congresswoman and Air Force pilot who was appointed by Arizona’s GOP governor after longtime GOP Sen. John McCain died.

Next year’s election will decide who finishes the final two years of McCain’s term. It’s expected to be closely contested, with Arizona increasingly competitive after decades of Republican dominance.

The campaign, Kelly said, is “a mission to lift up hardworking Arizonans, make Arizona safe and secure, give every family in this state access to affordable health care and grow wages for our middle class.”

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