Mark Kelly sworn in as US senator, flipping Arizona seat from red to blue
Democrats picked up a Senate seat on Wednesday when former astronaut Mark Kelly was sworn in as a US senator for Arizona after defeating Republican Sen. Martha McSally last month.
www.cnn.com
Democrats picked up a Senate seat on Wednesday when former astronaut
Mark Kelly was sworn in as a US senator for Arizona after defeating Republican Sen. Martha McSally last month.
While other senators-elect will have to wait until January to be sworn in for the new Congress, Kelly was able to take the oath of office right away since he won a special election.
A Kelly aide told CNN earlier in the day that Kelly would be sworn in with his wife, former Democratic Rep. Gabby Giffords, and his two daughters by his side, and that his twin brother, Scott Kelly, and family friends would also be attending.
Party control of the Senate still has yet to be determined and now hinges on
two Georgia runoffs set for January. Securing the seat from Arizona is nevertheless a major victory for Democrats, who had set their sights on it as one of their early top pickup opportunities in 2020.
The special election victory marks a moment of triumph for Kelly, a retired Navy captain and NASA astronaut, that comes in the aftermath of tragedy.
Kelly was thrust into the national spotlight in 2011 when his wife, Arizona's then-US Rep. Gabby Giffords, was shot in the head and nearly killed, an event that sent shock waves throughout the nation.
He later turned into a political activist, launching a group called Americans for Responsible Solutions alongside his wife and fighting for gun control policies like universal background checks and so-called
red flag laws.
"I learned a lot from being an astronaut. I learned a lot from being a pilot in the Navy, " Kelly said in his campaign announcement video. "But what I learned from my wife is how you use policy to improve people's lives."
His entry into politics has marked the start of a new chapter in an already esteemed career.
