When candidates run for reelection, the election itself is a referendum on those candidates, and how well they performed in office. Voters should ask themselves this question: did the candidates use their authority effectively? When we ask ourselves that question about Mark Kelly, we should consider that, in the Senate, his authority was uniquely strong. His professional background, the political breakdown in the Senate and the fact that he is up for reelection all combined to give Mark Kelly much more influence and power than the typical freshman Senator. The question we should ask ourselves is—did he use that authority well?
Mark Kelly won his Senate seat just two years ago. That was a special election, to fill the last two years of John McCain’s term. Now he has to run again, for a regular six-year term. Generally, candidates in swing states (like Arizona) get lots of leeway from their political parties. Their parties allow them to take positions on issues that might be at odds with—or even directly opposed to—what their party generally believes. Mark Kelly is running in a purplish-red state, at a time when the Democrat president and Congress are very unpopular. He should be able to “buck” his party’s line a lot.
The current Senate is divided evenly—48 Democrats and two Independents who vote with the Democrats, and 50 Republicans. If all 50 Republicans oppose a piece of Biden administration legislation, the Democrats need ALL 50 Senators to support it. (Vice President Harris would then break the tie). Mark Kelly saw his fellow Senators, Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, exert lots of influence on legislation and policy by threatening to withhold support. Each Senator, in this particular Senate, had unusually strong leverage.
Most freshman members of Congress don’t bring much personal “gravitas” with them to Capitol Hill. Most came up through the ranks of their party, and they owe their prominence to their party. But Mark Kelly is not like that. He was loaded with “gravitas” before he ran for Senate. He is a Navy fighter pilot with combat experience, an astronaut and a senior Navy officer. (A Navy captain is one rank below admiral). With that resume, he is by definition a badass! His background and accomplishments make him a real life “Maverick,” like Tom Cruise’s character in the Top Gun movies. He is someone that Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi and Joe Biden shouldn’t be able to push around.
When the Biden Administration hastily and haphazardly abandoned Afghanistan, Marine Lieutenant Colonel Stuart Scheller became famous by posting a Facebook video. Scheller criticized military leadership for allowing the fiasco to happen. During the video he reached up and rubbed the tip of his uniform collar—where an officer’s rank is—in between his fingertips. That gesture, well known in military circles, means that senior leaders are supposed to use their authority and influence to keep bad things from happening. In this election season, we should ask ourselves if Mark Kelly used his much-greater-than-average authority as a Senator effectively, or not.