Vice President Mike Pence swore in Mark Kelly as Arizona’s newest Senator on Wednesday, per state election rules. Senator Kelly’s addition to the upper chamber leaves the GOP’s majority at 52 seats, to Democrats’ 48 seats.
.@VP Pence swears in @SenMarkKelly. pic.twitter.com/zUCcUjlJxz
— CSPAN (@cspan) December 2, 2020
.@CaptMarkKelly is officially a senator now.@VP Pence conducted the swearing in, along with @SenatorSinema.
— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) December 2, 2020
Arizona has two Democratic U.S. senators for the first time since the early 1950s. pic.twitter.com/WqE1ildGsJ
VP Mike Pence swears-in Dem AZ Sen Mark Kelly who defeated fmr GOP AZ Sen Martha McSally. New Senate breakdown for THIS Congress is 52 Republicans and 48 senators who caucus with the Democrats.
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) December 2, 2020
JUST NOW: former astronaut Mark Kelly sworn in as U.S. Senator after winning John McCains Arizona Senate seat. Kelly was sworn in by Vice President Pence. Holding the Bible is @SenatorSinema, a fellow AZ. Democrat. Now, both of Arizona’s senate seats are filled by Democrats. https://t.co/JbYLeLtHzM
— David Begnaud (@DavidBegnaud) December 2, 2020
Kelly unseated former GOP Senator Martha McSally in a battleground race that drew national attention. McSally was appointed in 2019 to fill the seat vacated by the late Senator John McCain, and Kelly’s victory means he will finish out the rest of that term, and faces reelection in 2022. With Kelly's win, the GOP's Senate majority hinges on the pair of runoff elections underway in Georgia. Both Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler have to defend their seats on January 5 in order to keep Republicans in the majority in the upper chamber.