Mark Kelly holds on to Arizona seat in critical win for Democrats

Democrat Mark Kelly has won re-election in Arizona, defeating his far-right challenger Blake Masters in a critical race that puts the Democrats one victory away from securing control of the US Senate.

The Arizona race is one of a handful of contests that Republicans targeted in their bid to take control of the 50-50 Senate. It was a test of the inroads that Kelly and other Democrats have made in Arizona, a state that was once reliably dominated by the GOP but has emerged as a purple battleground.

Kelly’s victory suggests that Democratic success in Arizona – Joe Biden beat out Donald Trump in the state in 2020 – was not an aberration.

Other Arizona contests, including the closely watched race for governor between Democrat Katie Hobbs and Republican Kari Lake, were too early to call Friday night.

With the vice-president Kamala Harris’ tiebreaking vote, Democrats can retain control of the Senate by winning either the Nevada race, which remains too early to call, or next month’s runoff in Georgia. Republicans now must win both those races to take the majority.

Kelly, a former Nasa astronaut who’s flown in space four times, is married to the former US congresswoman Gabby Giffords, who inspired the nation with her recovery from a gunshot wound to the head during an assassination attempt in 2011 that killed six people and injured 13. Kelly and Giffords went on to co-found a gun safety advocacy group.

Kelly’s campaign had focused on winning over the state’s independent voters. He had at times sought to distance himself from Joe Biden and pitched himself as a moderate foil to his opponent.

Masters, a Donald Trump-endorsed 36-year-old venture capitalist without political experience, had denied the 2020 election results and repeated false claims of election fraud, but reeled in his most extreme stances in the weeks leading up toSaturday.

Kelly first won election in 2020 to serve out the remainder of the late John McCain’s Senate term. He had the advantage of incumbency and raised more money than his opponent. Kelly maintained a narrow lead in polls ahead of the election, though his margin tightened in the final weeks.

He has said he will fight to protect access to abortion, which the majority of Arizonans believe should be a right. On border security, the senator has sought to distance himself from the Biden administration, calling the situation at the border a “mess”. Kelly has advocated against ending Title 42, a Trump-era public health policy that uses the Covid-19 pandemic as justification to expel migrants at the southern border.

Kelly’s victory in 2020 gave Democrats both of Arizona’s Senate seats for the first time in 70 years. The shift was propelled by the state’s fast-changing demographics and the unpopularity of Trump.

Kelly’s 2022 campaign largely focused on his support for abortion rights, protecting Social Security, lowering drug prices and ensuring a stable water supply in the midst of a drought, which has curtailed Arizona’s cut of water from the Colorado River.

Masters, 36, is a venture capitalist without political experience who was backed by the billionaire tech investor Peter Thiel. Like other Republicans running for statewide positions on Arizona’s ballot, Masters denied the 2020 election results and repeated false claims of election fraud. He has falsely suggested that the January 6 insurrection was secretly directed by the FBI, has endorsed the white supremacist “great replacement” theory and blamed Black Americans for gun violence.

But after emerging bruised from a contentious primary, Masters struggled to raise money and was put on the defense over his controversial positions. After the primary, he scrubbed some of his more controversial positions from his website, but it wasn’t enough for the moderate swing voters who decided the election.