Certified Loser Martha McSally Appointed to John McCain's Old Senate Seat

On Tuesday, Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey appointed GOP Rep. Martha McSally to fill the late John McCain’s Senate seat. McSally will replace outgoing Sen. John Kyl, a corporate lobbyist who briefly stepped in to fill McCain’s seat this past September.

By naming McSally as Arizona’s newest senator, Ducey, a Republican, has effectively given her what she could not get from the voters during this year’s midterm election, when she narrowly lost to Democrat Kyrsten Sinema in a tight race to succeed the retiring Sen. Jeff Flake.

“Over the last year, I’ve traveled across this great state, meeting with countless Arizonans, and listening to them,” McSally said in a press release put out by Ducey’s office. “I’ve heard about the challenges they face and the hopes they have for the future—and I’ve learned a lot. I am humbled and grateful to have this opportunity to serve and be a voice for all Arizonans. I look forward to working with Senator-Elect Kyrsten Sinema and getting to work from day one.”

McSally—who during the campaign was caught on tape blatantly lying about her healthcare voting record—had long been viewed as a potential replacement for Kyl, a former three-term senator himself who ignominiously stepped down from McCain’s seat after voting to confirm credibly accused sexual predator Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, essentially his sole accomplishment as McCain’s immediate successor.

While McSally had embraced President Donald Trump during the midterm elections, she pointedly refused to take his lead after her loss. When Trump angrily (and baselessly) called for a new election following Sinema’s victory, McSally opted instead for a relatively gracious concession video—perhaps knowing that she stood a good chance of making it to the U.S. Senate via gubernatorial appointment. (Her concession video was largely an uninteresting affair, except for the fact that she was upstaged by a dog.)

Sinema has yet to publicly comment on her onetime foe’s new appointment. Shortly after her election, however, Sinema told The Daily Caller that she would “work with anyone on anything” when asked whether she could cooperate with Republicans on Trump’s long sought after border wall.