U.S. Senator Mark Kelly
On Tuesday, U.S. Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona held an exclusive call with VoteVets, which was live-streamed on the VoteVets YouTube channel. Kelly had plenty to say about Donald Trump‘s conduct of his new Iran War, as well as affordability and other issues here at home. Kelly’s high-profile appearance raises the question of whether he wants to run for president, and if so, what his chances are.
Sen. Kelly has an impressive record of service to America. The son of two police officers and member of a military family, he served in the U.S. Navy for 25 years as a test pilot and aviator, earning numerous medals. During Operation Desert Storm (the 1990-91 Gulf War against Iraq), he flew 39 combat missions over Iraq, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. Then Kelly became a NASA space shuttle pilot and commander aboard shuttles Endeavour and Discovery. In 2011, Kelly’s wife, U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords, was shot in the head and critically wounded by a gunman who killed six people and wounded 12 others in an assassination attempt. During her recovery, she and Mark started Americans for Responsible Solutions (now the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence).
Kelly was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2020, stating in the call that he did so because of the mass shooting involving his wife. In the Senate, he has been a Trump critic, including calling for Trump to be removed from office via the 25th Amendment after Trump instigated the January 6, 2021 insurrection and attack against the U.S. Capitol. Kelly is also one of six Democratic members of Congress who released a video reminding military service members that they may refuse illegal orders, after Trump had ordered deadly extra-judicial attacks on boats in the Caribbean. Sen. Kelly then stood up to Trump and other Republicans who tried to retaliate against him. The group was vindicated last month when a grand jury declined to indict them for expressing their free speech rights.
During Tuesday’s call, Kelly raised questions about Trump’s Iran war, most fundamentally, “how does this help the American people?” The Senator noted that we will be spending hundreds of billions on the war while Americans struggle with the affordability of homes, food, healthcare, school lunches and other basic needs, in many cases due to Trump’s funding cuts.
A second set of issues that Kelly raised about the Iran war is that there is no coherent justification, no mission, no timeline, no strategic goal, no plan, and “no endgame in sight.” Kelly said he was part of a group of lawmakers who had received a briefing on Tuesday from U.S. Secretary of “War” Pete Hegseth, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine. According to Sen. Kelly, these officials could not agree on a clear reason for the war, offering differing excuses such as “regime change”, Iran’s nuclear capability (which Trump claimed last year had been “obliterated”), its ballistic missile capability and danger from Iran’s navy. The Senator added that, under the Constitution, it is up to Congress, not the president, to declare war.
Kelly also said that the major things Trump has done this term, including a tax cut for the wealthy paid for by cutting healthcare; invading Venezuela and kidnapping its leader; the attacks on boats in the Caribbean; ICE trampling on people’s rights in our cities; and now the Iran war, have all been harmful and expensive.
While Sen. Kelly’s future electoral prospects did not come up, he sounded like someone who is considering running for president in 2028. Indeed, with his military and other service, he seems like a near-perfect candidate for these dangerous times, kind of a Democratic (and younger) version of John McCain, the 2008 Republican presidential nominee. Coincidentally, Kelly quoted McCain during the call, then said “I’m in his Senate seat, and I’ve always looked up to him.” Moreover, Kelly’s state of Arizona is a crucial swing state that went to the Republicans in 2024 and 2016, helping Trump win, and went to Joe Biden and the Democrats in 2020, aiding their victory that year. Whether in the number one or number two slot, Sen. Kelly would seem to be a great addition to a 2028 Democratic presidential ticket.
Photo by U.S. Embassy Jerusalem, used under Creative Commons license. https://is.gd/WQe2tG
