Breaking: Arizona GOP Sen. Jon Kyle Will Announce Retirement

I don't know if that means he's resigning or if he simply isn't planning to run for reelection. All the outlets simply use the word "retirement."

Two GOP sources confirm to Fox that 3-term Senator Jon Kyl will announce his retirement at a noon news conference Thursday in Phoenix.

The Arizona lawmaker is the No. 2 Republican in the Senate.

Kyl, 68, served four terms in the House before winning a Senate seat. In 2006, he was named one of the 10 best senators by Time Magazine.

Kyl is term-limited out of the GOP leadership next year, unless he challenges McConnell for Leader, which he clearly doesn't want to do.

Scuttlebutt here at CPAC is that there is no clear GOP successor, however Rep. Jeff Flake or Ruth McClung would probably be the strongest GOP candidates. On the Democratic side, Rep. Giffords would have been a strong contender for the seat. A rumor zipped through here that Sec. Napolitano might run, but that was just speculation being passed on as truth, so far as I can tell.

posted by Gabriel Malor at 11:07 AM

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