Sunday, November 4, 2018

Win or Lose, McSally Is Headed to the Senate

by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist

Martha McSally may be struggling in one of the toughest U.S. Senate races in the country, but the Arizona Republican has the comfort of knowing that whether she wins or loses this Tuesday's contest with Democrat Kyrsten Sinema, she will likely get to the Senate anyway.  And, if she does lose to Sinema this week, chances are excellent that McSally will already be seated and serving in that august body by the time Sinema arrives to take the oath of office in January.

McSally and Sinema, both currently serving in the U.S. House of Representatives from Arizona, are vying to replace U.S. Senator Jeff Flake who was bullied into retiring by Donald Trump.

But Arizona also has another rapidly approaching Senate opening.   The state's senior senator, John McCain, died late last August a few weeks after McSally had won a tough Republican primary for Flake's seat.  Governor Doug Ducey appointed former Republican Senator Jon Kyl to replace McCain, but Kyl stipulated that he was only willing to serve until the end of the year.  That means next month Ducey will get to make another appointment to the Senate - and in case McSally is fresh off of a loss to Sinema - well, do the math.

If McSally gets to the U.S. Senate through a Ducey appointment rather than through an election process, Kyl would be very likely to step down before the end of the year and allow her to be sworn in in December - thus gaining important seniority over all of the newly elected Senators who will arrive in January.

Of course, there is a chance that McSally could enter the Senate in the more traditional manner of getting elected.  If that happens, Doug Ducey would still get to appoint a replacement for Jon Kyl - and God knows who that would be!

Senator Arpaio, anyone?

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