Martha McSally Appointed to Complete John McCain's Term, Taking Over from the Retiring John Kyl

So it's done now.

Ben Domenech asks an important question: Given that this Establishment Blank lost to a troop-hating, terrorist-supporting, tutu-wearing, Arizona-trashing feminist freak, what are her chances of actually holding the seat?

Under Arizona law, Ducey's appointment of McSally means she is essentially tasked with filling out a sequence of two year terms. She will have to run for re-election in 2020, and run again in 2022. The demands of running non-stop are hard enough when you’re talking about a House seat. In this case, McSally will have to do something she hasn’t done before -- win statewide -- in back to back election cycles.

On paper, McSally looks like an ideal candidate. She has a Harvard degree, a lengthy record of military service, and an ideologically moderate record in Congress. But as a campaigner, she has much to prove. Her first foray into politics was a loss in a special election nomination fight (to Federalist contributor Jesse Kelly); she then lost a general election campaign for the same seat by less than 1 percent; she then won the district in the following election after a recount by 167 votes. McSally has won only one election by a significant margin, and her loss to Kyrsten Sinema in 2018's Senate election was by less than 3 percent of the vote. The historical trend is clear: win or lose, it's usually very close.

posted by Ace of Spades at 04:54 PM

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