Martha McSally, GOP's defeated 2018 Senate candidate, to fill John McCain's Arizona seat

Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey on Tuesday appointed Rep. Martha McSally to fill the Senate vacancy originally created with the death of Republican Sen. John McCain.

Sen. Jon Kyl, a Republican, was appointed to succeed McCain on an interim basis. McSally, a Republican who lost a bid for Senate in November, received the appointment to McCain’s seat on a permanent basis, to take effect after Kyl departs the Senate on Dec. 31. McSally will immediately have to stand for election in a 2020 special election to determine who serves out the final two years of the six-year term McCain won in 2016, meaning she would almost immediately mount a campaign after taking office in 2019. If successful, she’ll have to turn around and run for re-election in 2022.