Ex-astronaut gives Democrats US Senate win in Arizona: media

4 November 2020, 10:46 am

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Retired space shuttle commander Mark Kelly has won a US Senate seat in Arizona, US media projects, defeating a Republican incumbent and breathing life into Democrats’ slim hopes of taking control of the chamber.

In this October 2, 2018, file photo, retired NASA astronaut and Navy Capt. Mark Kelly speaks as his wife, former US Rep. Gabby Giffords looks on during a roundtable discussion with gun violence survivors, at UNLV in Las Vegas. (Bizuayehu Tesfaye/Las Vegas Review-Journal via AP, File)

“I’m also confident that when the votes are counted, that we’re going to be successful in this mission,” Kelly, 56, has told supporters hours before Fox News and The New York Times projected him the winner against Senator Martha McSally, a trailblazing former fighter pilot.

McSally was aligned with US President Donald Trump earlier this year but distanced herself from him in the final month in the southwestern state, where changing demographics and moderate conservatives’ frustrations with Trump helped Democrat Joe Biden win the state in the presidential race.

— AFP