The 2020 United States Senate special election in Arizona was held on November 3, 2020. Following the death in office of incumbent

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

U.S. Senator John McCain on August 25, 2018, Governor

Doug Ducey Douglas Anthony Ducey (, né Roscoe Jr.; born April 9, 1964) is an American businessman and politician serving as the 23rd governor of Arizona since 2015. A member of the Republican Party, Ducey was previously the CEO of Cold Stone Creamery, a c ...

was required by Arizona law to appoint a Republican to fill the vacant seat until a special election could be held. On September 5, 2018, Ducey appointed former U.S. Senator Jon Kyl to fill McCain's seat. However, Kyl announced he would resign on December 31, 2018. On December 18, 2018, Ducey announced that outgoing U.S. Representative

Martha McSally Martha Elizabeth McSally (born March 22, 1966) is an American politician and former military pilot who served as a United States senator for Arizona from 2019 to 2020. A member of the Republican Party, she served as the U.S. representative for ...

would be appointed to fill the seat following Kyl's resignation, which would trigger a special election. McSally was sworn in as the state's junior U.S. Senator on January 3, 2019, less than two months after she was

defeated Defeated may refer to: * "Defeated" (Breaking Benjamin song) * "Defeated" (Anastacia song) *"Defeated", a song by Snoop Dogg from the album ''Bible of Love'' *Defeated, Tennessee, an unincorporated community *''The Defeated ''The Defeated'', al ...

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

Kyrsten Sinema Kyrsten Lea Sinema (; born July 12, 1976) is an American politician and former social worker serving as the senior United States senator from Arizona since January 2019. A former member of the Democratic Party, Sinema became an independent in ...

for Arizona's Class 1 U.S. Senate seat. McSally ran to complete the term, defeating skincare executive Daniel McCarthy in the Republican primary. She faced former astronaut Mark Kelly, who ran uncontested in the Democratic primary. Primary elections took place on August 4, 2020. Once a reliably Republican state, Arizona trended more

purple Purple is any of a variety of colors with hue between red and blue. In the RGB color model used in computer and television screens, purples are produced by mixing red and blue light. In the RYB color model historically used by painters, ...

in the late 2010s. Kelly significantly outraised McSally and led by about 5% in the average poll leading up to Election Day. Kelly defeated McSally by a margin of 2.4% on election night, thereby flipping the seat Democratic. As a result, he outperformed Joe Biden in the concurrent presidential election, who defeated President

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...

by 0.3%, but underperformed his polling average. Kelly became the first Democrat to win the Class 3 Senate seat since

Carl Hayden Carl Trumbull Hayden (October 2, 1877 – January 25, 1972) was an American politician. Representing Arizona in the United States Senate from 1927 to 1969, he was the first U.S. Senator to serve seven terms. Serving as the state's first Represe ...

won his last term in 1962. This also marked the first time since the

82nd Congress The 82nd United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from January 3, 1 ...

preceding the 1952 election that Democrats held both Senate seats in Arizona. Kelly was sworn in on December 2, 2020.

Interim appointments

Appointees

* Jon Kyl, former U.S. Senator, former U.S. Representative for Arizona's 4th congressional district and former Senate Minority Whip, resigned December 31, 2018 *

, former U.S. Representative for Arizona's 2nd congressional district, 2018 Republican nominee for U.S. Senate, assumed office January 3, 2019

Potential candidates not appointed

Kirk Adams Kirk Adams (born February 2, 1973) is an American politician who served as the 50th Speaker of the Arizona House of Representatives from 2008 to 2011. A member of the Republican Party, he was the Arizona State Representative for the 19th distri ...

, incumbent chief of staff to incumbent

Governor of Arizona A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

and former Speaker of the Arizona House of Representatives * Barbara Barrett, Secretary of the Air Force and former

United States Ambassador to Finland United may refer to: Places * United, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community * United, West Virginia, an unincorporated community Arts and entertainment Films * ''United'' (2003 film), a Norwegian film * ''United'' (2011 film), a BBC Two fi ...

Jan Brewer Janice Kay Brewer (''née'' Drinkwine, formerly Warren; born September 26, 1944) is an American politician and author who was the 22nd governor of Arizona from 2009 to 2015. A member of the Republican Party, Brewer is the fourth woman (and was t ...

, former Governor of Arizona and former

Secretary of State of Arizona The secretary of state of Arizona is an elected position in the U.S. state of Arizona. Since Arizona does not have a lieutenant governor, the secretary stands first in the line of succession to the governorship. The secretary also serves as acti ...

Paul Gosar Paul Anthony Gosar ( ; born November 27, 1958) is an American far-rightMultiple sources: * * * politician and former dentist who has been the U.S. representative for since 2013. A Republican, he was elected in 2010 to represent the neighbor ...

, incumbent U.S. Representative for Arizona's 4th congressional district * Eileen Klein, former Treasurer of Arizona and former chief of staff to former governor of Arizona Jan Brewer *

Cindy McCain Cindy Lou McCain (; born May 20, 1954) is an American diplomat, businesswoman, and humanitarian. McCain has served as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Agencies for Food and Agriculture since November 5, 2021. She is the widow of U.S. Sena ...

, widow of former U.S. senator John McCain *

Meghan McCain Meghan Marguerite McCain (born October 23, 1984) is an American television personality, columnist, and author. She has worked for ABC News, Fox News, and MSNBC. The daughter of politician John McCain and diplomat Cindy McCain, she has been a pu ...

, daughter of former U.S. senator John McCain *

Mick McGuire Michael James McGuire (born 4 September 1952) is an English footballer who played as a midfielder in the Football League. He attended Blackpool Grammar School where the main sport was rugby but he was able to play some football in the evening ...

, incumbent Adjutant General of the

Arizona National Guard The Arizona National Guard is the National Guard of the American state of Arizona. It consists of the Arizona Army National Guard and the Arizona Air National Guard. Both components are part of the Arizona Department of Emergency and Militar ...

* Karrin Taylor Robson, businesswoman and incumbent member of the Arizona Board of Regents *

Matt Salmon Matthew James Salmon (born January 21, 1958) is an American politician who served as a U.S. representative from Arizona from 1995 to 2001 and again from 2013 until 2017. A member of the Republican Party, he retired from office after representin ...

, former U.S. Representative,

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

gubernatorial nominee and former Chairperson of the

Arizona Republican Party The Arizona Republican Party is the affiliate of the Republican Party in Arizona. Its headquarters are in Phoenix. The party currently controls four of Arizona's nine U.S. House seats, both houses of the state legislature, and the governorship ...

David Schweikert David S. Schweikert (; born March 3, 1962) is an American politician and businessman serving as the U.S. representative for from 2013 to 2023 and since 2023. A member of the Republican Party, he first entered Congress in 2011, representing ...

, incumbent U.S. Representative for

Arizona's 6th congressional district Arizona's 6th congressional district is a congressional district located in the U.S. state of Arizona and encompasses parts of Maricopa County. It consists mostly of the northeastern suburbs of Phoenix, including Scottsdale, Paradise Valley, ...

John Shadegg John Barden Shadegg (; born October 22, 1949) is an American politician and former U.S. Representative for , serving from 1995 until 2011. He is a member of the Republican Party. The district, numbered as the 4th District before the 2000 Censu ...

, former U.S. Representative for

Arizona's 3rd congressional district Arizona's 3rd congressional district is a congressional district that contains the southwestern portions of the state, sharing the border of Mexico from Nogales to the California border. Much of the district's population lives in the western t ...

Kelli Ward Kelli Ward (''née'' Kaznoski; born January 25, 1969) is an American osteopathic physician and politician who has served as the chair of the Arizona Republican Party since 2019. She served in the Arizona State Senate from 2013 to 2015. She c ...

, former candidate for U.S. Senate in

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

and 2018 *

Grant Woods J. Grant Woods (May 19, 1954 – October 23, 2021) was an American attorney and politician who served as Attorney General of Arizona from 1991 until 1999. Woods was a moderate-to-liberal Republican who served as John McCain's chief of staff w ...

, former Republican

Arizona Attorney General The Arizona Attorney General is the chief legal officer of the State of Arizona, in the United States. This state officer is the head of the Arizona Department of Law, more commonly known as the Arizona Attorney General's Office. The state attorn ...

and former congressional chief of staff to former U.S. senator John McCain

Republican primary

Incumbent McSally faced one challenger: Daniel McCarthy, a skincare company executive. Upon his respective announcements, McCarthy's independent wealth was expected to set up a bruising and expensive primary campaign, however, McSally won the primary in a landslide.

Candidates

Nominee

, incumbent U.S. Senator and former U.S. Representative for Arizona's 2nd congressional district

Eliminated in primary

* Sean Lyons (as a write-in candidate) * Daniel McCarthy, skincare company executive

Withdrawn

* Craig Brittain, former revenge porn site operator * PT Burton * Mark Cavener * Floyd Getchell * Ann Griffin, former teacher * Josue Larose, 2016 Republican presidential candidate and 2012 Republican candidate for

Louisiana's 2nd congressional district Louisiana's 2nd congressional district contains nearly all of the city of New Orleans and stretches west and north to Baton Rouge. The district is currently represented by Democrat Troy Carter. With a Cook Partisan Voting Index rating of D+25, ...

Declined

, incumbent chief of staff to incumbent

and former Speaker of the Arizona House of Representatives *

Joe Arpaio Joseph Michael Arpaio (; born June 14, 1932) is an American former law enforcement officer and politician. He served as the 36th Sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona for 24 years, from 1993 to 2017, losing reelection to Democrat Paul Penzone i ...

, former

Sheriff A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland that is commonly transla ...

Maricopa County Maricopa County is in the south-central part of the U.S. state of Arizona. As of the 2020 census, the population was 4,420,568, making it the state's most populous county, and the fourth-most populous in the United States. It contains about 6 ...

and candidate for U.S. Senate in 2018 (running for

Maricopa County Sheriff The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office (MCSO) is the law enforcement agency that serves Maricopa County, Arizona, and is the largest Sheriffs in the United States, sheriff's office in Arizona. The MCSO provides patrol services and criminal investi ...

) *

, Governor of Arizona *

, U.S. Representative for Arizona's 4th congressional district * Jon Kyl, former U.S. senator, former U.S. Representative for Arizona's 4th congressional district and former Senate Minority Whip * Blake Masters, President of the Thiel Foundation *

Curt Schilling Curtis Montague Schilling (born November 14, 1966) is an American former Major League Baseball right-handed pitcher who is a commentator for conservative media outlet BlazeTV. He helped lead the Philadelphia Phillies to a World Series appearance ...

, former

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

player and

Blaze Media Blaze Media is an American conservative media company. It was founded in 2018 as a result of a merger between TheBlaze and CRTV LLC. The company's leadership consists of Chief executive officer, CEO Tyler Cardon and president Gaston Mooney. It ...

commentator *

Fife Symington John Fife Symington III (; born August 12, 1945) is an American businessman and politician who served as the 19th governor of Arizona from 1991 until his resignation in 1997. A member of the Republican Party, he resigned from office following c ...

, former Governor of Arizona

Endorsements

Primary results

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee

* Mark Kelly, retired American

astronaut An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member aboard a spacecraft. Although generally r ...

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...

, retired U.S. Navy Captain and husband of former U.S. Representative

Gabby Giffords Gabrielle Dee Giffords (born June 8, 1970) is an American retired politician and gun control advocate who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives representing from January 2007 until January 2012, when she resigned ...

Eliminated in primary

* Bo "Heir Archy" Garcia (as a write-in candidate)

Withdrew

* Mohammad Arif, businessman and

perennial candidate A perennial candidate is a political candidate who frequently runs for elected office and rarely, if ever, wins. Perennial candidates' existence lies in the fact that in some countries, there are no laws that limit a number of times a person can ...

(write-in) ''(switched to Democratic general election write-in candidacy)'' * Sheila Bilyeu, Democratic candidate for the 2020 United States Senate election in Oklahoma * Juan Angel Vasquez

Declined

Ruben Gallego Rubén Marinelarena Gallego (; born November 20, 1979) is an American politician and U.S. Marine combat veteran, having served and deployed as a USMCR Corporal during Operation Iraqi Freedom, who is the U.S. Representative for Arizona's 7th con ...

, incumbent U.S. Representative for

Arizona's 7th congressional district Arizona's 7th congressional district is a congressional district located in the U.S. state of Arizona. The district includes the western third of Tucson, part of Yuma and Nogales, and some peripheral parts of metro Phoenix. It is currently repre ...

( running for re-election) ''(endorsed Mark Kelly)'' *

Katie Hobbs Kathleen Marie Hobbs (born December 28, 1969) is an American politician and social worker who is the governor-elect of Arizona, having been elected in 2022. She has served as the 21st secretary of state of Arizona since 2019. A member of the D ...

, former Republican

and former congressional chief of staff to former U.S. senator John McCain

Endorsements

Primary results

Libertarian primary

Neither one of the write-in candidates received enough votes to secure the Libertarian nomination in the general election.

Write-in candidates

Eliminated in primary

* Barry Hess, write-in Libertarian candidate in the

2018 United States Senate election in Arizona The 2018 United States Senate election in Arizona took place on November 6, 2018, to elect a member of the United States Senate to represent the State of Arizona and replace incumbent Republican Senator Jeff Flake, who did not run for reelect ...

and Libertarian nominee in the

2014 Arizona gubernatorial election The 2014 Arizona gubernatorial election was held on November 4, 2014, to elect the Governor of Arizona, concurrently with elections to the United States Senate in other states and elections to the United States House of Representatives and vario ...

* Alan White

Primary results

Other candidates

General election write-in candidates

Declared

;Republican * Edward Davida * John Schiess * Debbie Simmons * Patrick "Pat" Thomas ;Democratic * Perry Kapadia * Mohammed "Mike Obama" Arif * Adam Chilton * Buzz Stewart ;Other * Christopher Beckett, veteran ''(Independent)'' * William "Will" Decker ''(Independent)'' * Matthew "Doc" Dorchester ''(Libertarian)'' * Nicholas N. Glenn, navy veteran and aerospace engineer ''(Independent Republican)'' * Mathew Haupt ''(Independent)'' * Benjamin Rodriguez ''(Independent)'' * Joshua Rodriguez ''(Unity)'' * Frank Saenz ''(Independent)'' * Jim Stevens ''(Independent)''

Withdrawn

* Robert Kay ''(Independent)''

General election

Debates

Complete video of debate
October 6, 2020

Predictions

Endorsements

Polling

Graphical summary

Aggregate polls

;with Daniel McCarthy and Mark Kelly ;with Ruben Gallego ;on whether McSally deserves to be re-elected ;with generic Republican and generic Democrat

Results

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic *

Maricopa Maricopa can refer to: Places * Maricopa, Arizona, United States, a city ** Maricopa Freeway, a piece of I-10 in Metropolitan Phoenix ** Maricopa station, an Amtrak station in Maricopa, Arizona * Maricopa County, Arizona, United States * Marico ...

(largest municipality:

Phoenix Phoenix most often refers to: * Phoenix (mythology), a legendary bird from ancient Greek folklore * Phoenix, Arizona, a city in the United States Phoenix may also refer to: Mythology Greek mythological figures * Phoenix (son of Amyntor), a ...

)

Notes

;Partisan clients

References

External links

* Official campaign websites
Mark Kelly (D) for Senate

Martha McSally (R) for Senate
{{Arizona elections Arizona 2020 Arizona 2020 2020 Special Arizona Special United States Senate Special United States Senate 2020

Interim appointments

Appointees

Potential candidates not appointed

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominee

Eliminated in primary

Withdrawn

Declined

Endorsements

Primary results

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee

Eliminated in primary

Withdrew

Declined

Endorsements

Primary results

Libertarian primary

Write-in candidates

Eliminated in primary

Primary results

Other candidates

General election write-in candidates

Declared

Withdrawn

General election

Debates

Predictions

Endorsements

Polling

Graphical summary

Aggregate polls

Results

See also

Notes

References

Further reading

External links