Former astronaut Mark Kelly will take his seat in the Senate on Wednesday, replacing Republican Sen. Martha McSally, who he narrowly defeated on Nov. 3 in the Arizona Senate race.
Vice President Mike Pence will administer the oath of office to Kelly on Wednesday, a Republican aide told the Washington Examiner. Kelly’s arrival will bolster the ranks of Democrats and reduce the GOP’s majority from 53 to 52 seats.
McSally lagged behind Kelly in the polls throughout the Senate race, but she outperformed some predictions. Kelly defeated McSally 51.2% to 48.8%.
Arizona’s GOP governor appointed McSally to the seat in January 2019 to replace Jon Kyl, a former Republican senator who agreed to fill a vacancy left when Sen. John McCain died of brain cancer in August 2018. McSally, a former House lawmaker and ex-fighter pilot, conceded the race last week.
Kelly is the husband of former Democratic Rep. Gabby Giffords, who was grievously wounded by a gunman while meeting with constituents in Tucson in January 2011.
Kelly and Giffords founded a nonprofit organization and super PAC aimed at passing gun control laws.
Kelly will take his seat in the Senate more than a month before the start of the 117th Congress.
That’s because the Nov. 3 Senate election in Arizona fills the vacancy left by McCain, who was reelected to a six-year term in 2016.
Kelly will finish the remainder of McCain’s term, which ends in 2022.
Senate Republicans are fighting to hold on to two GOP seats up for grabs in a rare double runoff in Georgia. If Democrats are able to flip the seats in the January special election, they would regain the majority next year, with 50 seats plus the tie-breaking vote of incoming Vice President Kamala Harris.
