MARK KELLY

Members of Congress are grappling with what to do after the downing of a Chinese balloon and three other aerial objects over American airspace.

Republican Blake Masters called Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly to concede in the Arizona Senate race.

The release of ballots on Saturday from Arizona’s largest county netted Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake a few thousand votes, but she’s still trailing Democrat Katie Hobbs by tens of thousands of ballots.

Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto has won election to a second term representing Nevada, defeating Republican Adam Laxalt to clinch the party’s control of the chamber for the next two years of Joe Biden’s presidency.

Blake Masters wasn’t posting the numbers of votes he needed in Election Day ballots as they were counted and released days later by officials in Arizona’s biggest county.

Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly has won his bid for reelection in the crucial swing state of Arizona.

Democrats are holding on to narrow leads in key Arizona contests, but the races for U.S. Senate and governor are still too early to call.

Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly led his Republican rival, venture capitalist Blake Masters, but the race that could determine which party controls the U.S. Senate was too early to call.

The turnout machine that left-leaning Latino activists have built since Arizona enacted a tough crackdown on immigrants will be put to the test in Tuesday's election.

The Libertarian candidate for U.S. Senate from Arizona, Marc Victor, dropped out of the race Tuesday and urged his supporters to vote for Republican Blake Masters.

Much of the focus has shifted to the Senate, specifically a few select races that will decide control.

Republicans are increasingly confident in Senate candidates who party leaders had once believed were essentially unelectable or at least seriously flawed.

Communities around California's shrinking Salton Sea are at the center of the latest spat between Arizona and California over how to conserve Colorado River water.

Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly distanced himself from President Joe Biden during his first and only debate against Republican Blake Masters on Thursday.

A year ago, Arizona’s Democratic Secretary of State Katie Hobbs was all over cable news, building a national profile as a defender of democracy and raking in cash for her campaign for governor.

The race for Arizona Senate doesn't fit easily into the Donald Trump vs.

The Biden administration on Thursday authorized completion of the Trump-funded U.S.-Mexico border wall in an open area of southern Arizona near Yuma, where four wide gaps make it among the busiest corridors for illegal crossings.

Donald Trump has endorsed investor Blake Masters in the crowded Republican Senate primary in Arizona.

The Biden administration’s decision to end sweeping asylum limits at the border this May satisfied demands by prominent Democrats.

Republican missteps that include intense infighting are threatening the GOP’s path to the Senate majority.

Two Democratic senators are calling for suspending the federal gas tax for the remainder of the year to help consumers struggling with rising fuel prices.

Voting legislation that Democrats and civil rights groups argue is vital for protecting democracy has collapsed.

Arizona Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly has used his first speech in Congress to pay tribute to John McCain, the late Republican senator whose seat Kelly now holds.

Some lawmakers are trying to stop 144 American cities from losing their designations as “metropolitan areas.”.

A group working to elect candidates with science, technology, engineering and math backgrounds plans to spend $50 million in the 2022 midterm elections.

“As I sat waiting for information about @SenMarkKelly’s safety today, I couldn’t stop thinking about what you must have gone through 10 years ago this week,” Giffords wrote on Twitter on Wednesday after it was clear lawmakers were unharmed. Gabe Zimmerman, Giffords' community outreach director, was the first congressional staffer killed on the job in the United States. She went to see her congresswoman with a child’s optimism and a belief that public service is exciting and hopeful. A decade later, in the aftermath of an insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, his words carry new meaning. All of us – we should do everything we can to make sure this country lives up to our children’s expectations.”

The European and Russian space agencies skipped the 2020 Mars launch window, their life-sniffing Mars rover grounded until 2022 because of technical issues and COVID-19 restrictions. Three weeks later, SpaceX launched its biggest cargo shipment yet to the space station for NASA. If the repairs work and the capsule finally reaches the space station, the first Starliner astronauts could be flying by summer. The actor was in talks with NASA this year about filming a movie at the space station. “Whatever else can be said about the four years of the Trump administration, they have been positive for the U.S. civilian space program,” noted John Logsdon, professor emeritus at George Washington University’s Space Policy Institute.

(Nicholas Kamm/Pool via AP)WASHINGTON – Arizona Democrat and former astronaut Mark Kelly was sworn into the Senate on Wednesday, narrowing Republican control of the chamber and underscoring his state's shift from red to blue. Kelly, 56, defeated GOP Sen. Martha McSally in last month's election, making her one of only three incumbents to lose. Kelly's Arizona colleague, Democratic Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, held the Bible on which he took his oath. In what was one of the country's most expensive Senate races, Kelly raised $89 million. That was second only to the $108 million collected by defeated South Carolina Democratic Senate candidate Jaime Harrison, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics.

Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, left, and Arizona Gov. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, Pool)PHOENIX – Arizona officials certified the state's election results on Monday, formalizing Democrat Joe Biden’s narrow victory over Donald Trump even as the Republican president's attorneys continued to make baseless claims of fraud about the state's vote count. In the final tally, he beat Trump by 10,457 votes, or 0.3 percent of the nearly 3.4 million ballots cast. Nine Republican state lawmakers attended the meeting. A judge in Phoenix has scheduled a Thursday trial in Arizona GOP Chairwoman Kelli Ward’s lawsuit that seeks to annul Biden’s victory in the state.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., speaks with reporters during a press conference in Louisville, Ky., Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2020. “We’re waiting — whether I’m going to be the majority leader or not,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said Wednesday. There already is a Jan. 5 runoff in the state's other Senate race. Securing the Senate majority will be vital for the winner of the presidency. John Hickenlooper defeated GOP Sen. Cory Gardner, and Arizona, where former astronaut Mark Kelly beat Republican incumbent Martha McSally.

The outcome delighted Democrats and was sure to bring a reckoning for Republicans who have enjoyed decades of dominance in Arizona politics. In turning toward friendly territory for Democrats, Arizona is following a path blazed by its neighbors Colorado, New Mexico and Nevada. It’s also the Democrats’ brightest light among the Sun Belt states they tried to flip from the GOP this year. A decade of work organizing Latinos to vote helped Arizona Democrats outperform other states where Democrats came up short, Gallego said. President Bill Clinton won Arizona in his 1996 reelection bid.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said President Donald Trump’s campaign helped his GOP allies, but that state election officials were still counting ballots. Key Senate races in North Carolina, Alaska and Georgia remained undecided. Democrats contested seats from New England to the Deep South and the Midwest to the Mountain West, reaching deep into GOP strongholds. North Carolina Republican Sen. Thom Tillis has struggled against Democrat Cal Cunningham, despite the married challenger’s sexting scandal with a public relations strategist. GOP Sen. Kelly Loeffler will face Democrat Raphael Warnock, a Black pastor at the church where the Rev.

The former astronaut defeated Republican Sen. Martha McSally, who was appointed to the seat after McCain’s death in 2018. Daines’ first election in 2014 broke a Democratic lock on the Senate seat that had lasted more than 100 years. The six-term congressman from northern New Mexico defeated Republican Mark Ronchetti, a former television meteorologist, and Libertarian Bob Walsh. Reed cruised to victory over Waters, an investment consultant who mounted earlier unsuccessful campaigns for state Senate and U.S. Senate in Massachusetts. Warner defeated Republican challenger Daniel Gade in a low-key race in which the incumbent had a massive cash advantage.

Republican Senate candidate Sen. Mitch McConnell, second from right, and his wife, Elaine Chao, right, look on as aides show him the election results in Louisville, Ky., Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2020. (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley)WASHINGTON – Hopes fading for Senate control, Democrats had a disappointing election night as Republicans swatted down an onslaught of challengers and fought to retain their fragile majority. Democrats contested seats from New England to the Deep South and the Midwest to the Mountain West, reaching deep into GOP strongholds. The Democrats' gains were in Colorado and Arizona, where former astronaut Mark Kelly beat GOP incumbent Martha McSally. Republican Cynthia Lummis, the former congresswoman from Wyoming, won the Senate seat being vacated by Republican Mike Enzi.

Republican senators are fighting to save their majority against an onslaught of challengers in states once off limits to Democrats that are now hotbeds of the backlash to President Donald Trump and his allies on Capitol Hill. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)WASHINGTON – Senate Republicans are fighting to save their majority, a final election push against the onslaught of challengers in states once off limits to Democrats but now hotbeds of a potential backlash to President Donald Trump and his allies on Capitol Hill. With it, a reelected Trump could confirm his nominees and ensure a backstop against legislation from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. With the chamber now split, 53-47, three or four seats will determine Senate control, depending on which party wins the White House. Swooping in to fill the gap for Republicans is the Senate Leadership Fund, tapping deep-pocketed donors.

The former vice president is competitive in all the battleground states Trump carried in 2016 and has put a handful of traditional Republican states, including Georgia and Arizona, in play. They would give Biden 279 electoral votes, as long as he wins all the other states in Clinton's column. Under this scenario, Biden would not need to win any other states Trump won in 2016. Once reliably Republican Arizona, offering exactly 11, and North Carolina, with 15, are states Trump won four years ago that are well within Biden's reach. He's also competing for Ohio, which Trump won by 8 percentage points in 2016; Iowa, which Trump won by nearly 10 percentage points; and Georgia, which Trump carried by 5 percentage points.

Confirmation hearings are set to begin Monday for President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee giving Republicans one last chance to salvage their Senate majority by wresting attention away from the White House and its COVID-19 response and onto the GOP’s longtime goal of fashioning a conservative court. Only two GOP senators balked at quick confirmation. This time, it's much about securing his own legacy reshaping the judiciary into what allies call the “McConnell Court” as giving his majority a landing pad after a tumultuous four years with Trump. Having already bent Senate rules to allow 51-vote threshold to advance Supreme Court nominees, rather than 60 as was tradition, McConnell is now poised to usher a third Trump justice to confirmation. “It’s not going to be remembered as the McConnell Court,” said Stevens.

FILE - In this May 16, 2011, file photo, former NASA astronaut STS-134 commander Mark Kelly, front, waves a he leaves the Operations and Checkout Building with fellow crew members, including Mike Fincke, for a trip to Launch Pad 39-A, and a planned liftoff on the space shuttle Endeavour at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. A Kelly victory would shrink the GOP's Senate majority at a crucial moment and complicate the path to confirmation for President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara, File)

(AP Photo/Chris O'Meara, File)PHOENIX – If Arizona Democrat Mark Kelly wins a seat in the U.S. Senate, he could take office as early as Nov. 30, shrinking the GOP’s Senate majority at a crucial moment and complicating the path to confirmation for President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee. “If Mark Kelly comes out on top, HE could block President Trump’s Supreme Court Nominee from being confirmed,” she wrote. The Supreme Court vacancy could shake up the race and boost McSally’s lagging campaign by keeping those voters in her camp. Republican and Democratic election lawyers agreed that Arizona law is clear: If Kelly wins, he will take office once the results are official. Arizona Supreme Court precedent favors putting elected officials in elected positions as soon as possible, said the Tim LaSota, the former lawyer for the Arizona Republican Party and a McSally supporter.

If Arizona Democrat Mark Kelly wins a seat in the U.S. Senate, he could take office as early as Nov. 30, 2020. A Kelly victory would shrink the GOP's Senate majority at a crucial moment and complicate the path to confirmation for President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)PHOENIX – If Arizona Democrat Mark Kelly wins a seat in the U.S. Senate, he could take office as early as Nov. 30, shrinking the GOP's Senate majority at a crucial moment and complicating the path to confirmation for President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee. “If Mark Kelly comes out on top, HE could block President Trump’s Supreme Court Nominee from being confirmed,” she wrote. The Supreme Court vacancy could shake up the race and boost McSally's lagging campaign by keeping those voters in her camp.

Standing behind Trump are Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., from left, Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky. So far, voters are signaling they want to finish the job they started in 2018 by installing Democrats for House majority control. In battleground Arizona, Republican Sen. Martha McSally is trailing Democrat Mark Kelly, a former astronaut. Gonzales said after GOP losses in 2018 there was an expectation that Trump atop the ticket would bring back Republican voters in 2020. But President Trump continues to drive Democratic energy and turnout, he said.

(Democratic National Convention via AP)There has been one persistent theme in the Democratic National Convention so far: to portray President Donald Trump in highly personal ways as one unsuited for the White House both in skills and temperament. Here are some key takeaways from the third night of the convention. Donald Trump hasnt grown into the job because he cant, Obama said, according to his prepared remarks. Thats been a theme of the entire Democratic Convention, but having the most recent former president make it explicit demonstrates that this time Democrats are taking Trump seriously, and literally. The Democratic party is increasingly dependent on female voters, as a gender gap grows in U.S. politics.

Republican Sen. Thom Tillis, facing a competitive North Carolina reelection contest, is looking forward to campaigning" with Trump, Tillis' spokesperson said. GOP Sen. Steve Daines tweeted, Montana cant wait to have you back, Mr. President! after Trump promised to help him battle a strong Democratic challenger. Republican candidates are hostages, said Trump critic Tim Miller, an aide to past GOP presidential contenders including Jeb Bush. Anyone who wants to win in November should be running with the president, said Trump campaign spokesperson Erin Perrine. In the House, Democrats hope to use allegiance to Trump that GOP candidates touted in primaries against them in general elections.

FILE - In this Nov. 15, 2019, file photo former Georgia House Democratic Leader Stacey Abrams, speaks at the National Press Club in Washington. Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has already narrowed the field by saying he will pick a woman. Gretchen Whitmer, other names that have been part of the speculation are Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Abrams. On Thursday, Abrams announced that she was backing Democratic candidates in Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, Maine, Mississippi, North Carolina and South Carolina. For Arizona, Abrams said former astronaut Mark Kelly has a proven record of service to our country. John Hickenlooper, the former Colorado governor and 2020 presidential candidate, is the one to help us cross the finish line for a Democratic Senate majority, Abrams said.