Martha McSally vs Mark Kelly: All eyes on Arizona Senate race as battle over Supreme Court nomination heats up
With the issue of succession of late Supreme Court judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg heating up, the focus has shifted to the special Arizona Senate election between Republican Martha McSally and former astronaut Mark Kelly, who ran uncontested in the Democratic primary. If Kelly manages to defeat McSally, who was appointed to the seat once held by the late John McCain and took office in January 2019, then it would boost the blue party’s presence in the Senate and could jeopardize President Donald Trump’s nomination for the Supreme Court vacancy. The president has already made two appointments to the apex court so far — Neil Gorsuch in 2017 and Brett Kavanaugh in 2018 — and his critics fear he would go on to pick yet another conservative to replace the iconic liberal RBG to influence the court more.
If Kelly, 56, wins in Arizona on November 3, he could take office as early as November 30. Under the law of Arizona, election results need to be clarified on the fourth Monday following the election which is November 30 this year. The clarification could be postponed up to three days if the state has not received the results from any of its 15 counties, Associated Press reported.
The timing could clash with the Republican leadership at the White House and Senate which is in a hurry to find Ginsburg’s replacement, sparking an accusation of hypocrisy. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has particularly come under the opposition’s wrath because it has him who had opposed the appointment of the successor to Justice Antonin Scalia after his death in early 2016 saying it was an election year and wanted a new president to pick his replacement. On that occasion, Merrick Garland, then president Barack Obama’s pick, did not even get a hearing.
The situation in Arizona was indicated as a potential challenge for the GOP as Kelly was maintaining a polling lead over McSally, 54, whose appointment by Governor Doug Ducey following the resignation of McCain’s immediate successor Jon Kyl created a controversy. Since the McSally-Kelly contest is a special election to finish McCain’s sixth term which he could not finish. The winner of the election will be sworn in as soon as the results come out. Other winners in the November Senate elections will not take office till January 2021.
GOP now has 53 members in Senate, Dems 45
The GOP has 53 members in the Senate while the Democrats have 45. Two are Independents. The Democrats are keen to flip the body this election in a bid to expand their political influence. If the GOP loses the Arizona seat and with some of its Senate members deciding against voting for Trump’s nominee, like Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski and her Maines counterpart Collins, McConnell and Trump would be even more eager to speed up the nomination process. McConnell vowed after Ginsburg’s death that Trump’s nominee for her replacement “will receive a vote on the floor of the United States Senate”. Former president Bill Clinton called his actions “hypocritical”.
Four defections in the Senate would defeat a nomination.
McSally, a former fighter pilot, said that “this US Senate should vote on President Trump’s next nominee for the US supreme court” soon after Ginsburg’s death. Though she did not clarify whether the voting should happen before or after the election, but her words that “if Mark Kelly comes out on top, HE could block President Trump’s supreme court Nominee from being confirmed” showed that she is leaving no stone unturned to win the high-stake contest in Arizona. AP quoted Kelly saying on Saturday, September 19: “The people elected to the presidency and Senate in November should fill this vacancy. When it comes to making a lifetime appointment to the supreme court, Washington shouldn’t rush that process for political purposes.”