Former senior Obama adviser and leading liberal podcaster Dan Pfeiffer lauded retired astronaut Mark Kelly’s campaign video announcing his challenge to Republican Sen. Martha McSally, R-Ariz., in 2020.
“One of the best campaign videos I have ever seen,” Pfeiffer, a co-host of the Pod Save America podcast, tweeted.
The announcement sets up an epic 2020 election clash between Kelly, a Navy pilot and astronaut, and McSally, an Air Force pilot who was the first American woman to fly in combat – both of whom are Gulf War veterans.
Kelly, 54, who is married to former Arizona Rep. Gabby Giffords, was a NASA astronaut who served as a Navy pilot and engineer. He flew 39 combat missions during the 1991 Gulf War and retired as a captain. His twin brother Scott was also a Navy pilot and astronaut.
In the emotional four-and-a-half-minute video Kelly talks about watching his first sunrise in space, recounts his family history appears with his wife to talk about her being shot in the head at an event in 2011. “What I learned from my wife is how you use policy to improve people’s lives,” he says.
One of the best campaign videos I have ever seen https://t.co/fc5JRGOs68
— Dan Pfeiffer (@danpfeiffer) February 12, 2019
Kelly founded Americans for Responsible Solutions, a nonprofit organization that supports gun control, with Giffords after she was shot.
“I always knew that I was going to serve this country in some way,” Kelly said in his announcement. “What I learned from my wife is how you use policy to improve people’s lives.”
The Senate seat is held by Republican Martha McSally, a former Air Force colonel, who was appointed by Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey to replace former Republican Sen. Jon Kyl.
Kyl filled the seat after Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., died in August, but he stepped down in December to return to his lobbying firm Covington & Burling.
The special election in 2020 will determine who will serve until 2022, the final two years of McCain’s term. Another election for the seat will be held in 2022.
