Martha McSally facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Martha McSally
Official portrait, 2019
United States Senator from Arizona
In office January 3, 2019 – December 2, 2020
Appointed by	Doug Ducey
Preceded by	Jon Kyl
Succeeded by	Mark Kelly
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Arizona's 2nd district
In office January 3, 2015 – January 3, 2019
Preceded by	Ron Barber
Succeeded by	Ann Kirkpatrick
Personal details
Born	Martha Elizabeth McSally (1966-03-22) March 22, 1966 (age 59) Warwick, Rhode Island, U.S.
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Donald Henry ​ ​ (m. 1997; annulled 1999)​
Education	United States Air Force Academy (BS) Harvard University (MPP)
Military service
Branch/service	United States Air Force
Years of service	1988–2010
Rank	Colonel
Commands	354th Fighter Squadron
Battles/wars	Operation Southern Watch Operation Allied Force Operation Enduring Freedom

Martha Elizabeth McSally (born March 22, 1966) is an American politician and former military pilot who represented Arizona in both chambers of Congress between 2015 and 2020. She is to date the last Republican to serve Arizona in the U.S. Senate.

McSally served in the United States Air Force from 1988 to 2010, achieving the rank of colonel. She is the first U.S. woman to fly in combat and also the first to command a fighter squadron. In 2001, McSally successfully sued the United States Department of Defense in McSally v. Rumsfeld, challenging the military policy that required U.S. and UK servicewomen stationed in Saudi Arabia to wear the body-covering abaya when traveling off base in the country.

A member of the Republican Party, McSally ran for the U.S. House of Representatives in 2012, but was unsuccessful. She was elected to the House in 2014 and represented Arizona's 2nd congressional district from 2015 to 2019. McSally was the Republican nominee in Arizona's 2018 U.S. Senate election, losing to Democrat Kyrsten Sinema. After interim Senator Jon Kyl resigned from the state's other Senate seat (to which he had been appointed following the death of longtime Senator John McCain), Governor Doug Ducey appointed McSally to replace Kyl. In 2020, a special election was held to determine who would serve the remainder of McCain's unexpired Senate term; McSally was defeated by Democratic nominee Mark Kelly.

McSally opposes same-sex marriage. She advocates increased military spending. McSally opposed and voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act and supported the unsuccessful attempt to pass American Health Care Act of 2017. Though criticizing Obama's use of executive action to create it, she supported Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals until 2018 and expressed concern about President Donald Trump's travel ban and the family separation policy.

Early life and education

McSally was born in 1966 in Warwick, Rhode Island, the youngest of five children. When McSally was 12, her lawyer father, Bernard, died suddenly due to a massive heart attack. Her mother, Eleanor (Taft), worked as a reading specialist to support the family.

McSally was the valedictorian at St. Mary Academy – Bay View in 1984. She said that the coach used "emotional manipulation" to keep her compliant. She did not reveal the incident to friends or family until ten years after her graduation.

She earned an appointment to the United States Air Force Academy, graduating in 1988 with a B.S. in Biology. She then earned a master's degree in public policy from Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government and proceeded to pilot training.

Military career

McSally with an A-10 Thunderbolt II

McSally earned her USAF pilot's wings in 1991 after completing Undergraduate Pilot Training at Williams Air Force Base east of Phoenix. Following graduation, she was assigned to Laughlin Air Force Base, Texas, as a First Assignment Instructor Pilot in the T-37 trainer. McSally went on to Lead-in Fighter Training in 1993.

McSally then completed Replacement Training Unit for the A-10 Thunderbolt II at Davis–Monthan Air Force Base and was assigned to an operational A-10 squadron that deployed to Kuwait in January 1995. During this deployment, she flew combat patrol over Iraq in support of Operation Southern Watch, enforcing the no-fly zone over southern Iraq and becoming "the first female U.S. fighter pilot to fly in combat and the first woman to command a fighter squadron."

In 1999, McSally deployed to Europe in support of Operation Allied Force. She was selected as one of seven active-duty Air Force officers for the Legislative Fellowship Program. She lived in Washington, D.C., working as a national security advisor to Senator Jon Kyl (R-AZ).

McSally took command of the 354th Fighter Squadron at Davis–Monthan Air Force Base in July 2004. She was subsequently deployed to Afghanistan during Operation Enduring Freedom. In 2006, McSally's squadron won the David C. Shilling Award, given by the Air Force Association "for the most outstanding contribution in the field of flight".

Lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Defense

McSally was represented by The Rutherford Institute in McSally v. Rumsfeld, a successful 2001 lawsuit against the Department of Defense, challenging the military policy that required U.S. and U.K. servicewomen stationed in Saudi Arabia to wear the body-covering abaya when traveling off base in the country. At the time of the lawsuit McSally, as a major (O-4), was the highest ranking female fighter pilot in the U.S. Air Force. Her suit alleged "the regulations required her to send the message that she believes women are subservient to men."

In a 60 Minutes interview broadcast on CBS on January 20, 2002, she described the discrimination she experienced under the policy:

"I have to sit in the back and at all times I must be escorted by a male ... [who], when questioned, is supposed to claim me as his wife," she said. "I can fly a single-seat aircraft in enemy territory, but [in Saudi Arabia] I can't drive a vehicle.

General Tommy Franks, then commander of the United States Central Command, announced in 2002 that U.S. military servicewomen would no longer be required to wear the abaya, although they would be "encouraged" to do so as a show of respect for local customs. Commenting on the change, Central Command spokesman Colonel Rick Thomas said it was not made because of McSally's lawsuit but had already been "under review" before the lawsuit was filed. McSally had been working to change the policy for several years and had filed the lawsuit after she had been threatened with a court martial if she did not comply.

In 2002, Congress passed legislation prohibiting anyone in the military from "requiring or encouraging servicewomen to put on abayas in Saudi Arabia or to use taxpayers' money to buy them." Following her USAF career, McSally has continued to speak out about gender relations in Saudi Arabia.

Retirement

After retiring from the U.S. Air Force on May 6, 2010, she worked as a professor at the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany.

U.S. House of Representatives

2012 elections

Candidate Martha McSally with Governor Jan Brewer at the Arizona Chamber of Commerce & Industry's 2014 Legislative Forecast Luncheon in Phoenix

On February 9, 2012, McSally announced her candidacy for the special election for Arizona's 8th congressional district vacancy created by the resignation of Gabby Giffords. She was an unsuccessful candidate in the Republican primary for the special election, finishing second to Jesse Kelly.

McSally then ran for and won the Republican nomination in the regular election for the district, which had been renumbered the 2nd district. She faced incumbent Democrat Ron Barber and Libertarian nominee Anthony Powell in the November 2012 election. She was endorsed by the National Federation of Independent Businesses, the United States Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Wholesalers, and Associated Builders and Contractors.

The race was one of the closest in the nation. McSally led on election night by a few hundred votes, but the race was deemed too close to call due to a large number of provisional ballots. Barber eventually overtook McSally as more ballots were counted. By November 16, most of the outstanding ballots were in heavily Democratic precincts near Tucson. The Arizona Republic determined that McSally would not be able to pick up enough votes to overcome Barber's lead. By November 17, Barber's lead had grown to 1,400 votes. That day, the Associated Press determined that there were not enough ballots outstanding for McSally to regain the lead and called the race for Barber. She conceded the race later that morning.

2014 election

McSally declared her intention of running again for the 2nd district seat in 2014. She won the June 3 primary against two opponents, taking nearly 70% of the vote. In the November 4 general election, the race was too close to call by the end of election night and eventually became the final federal election of the 2014 cycle to be decided. With 100% of the votes counted, McSally had a 161-vote lead and declared victory on November 12, 2014, but because the margin of victory was less than 1%, an automatic recount was called on December 1. On December 17, the official recount declared McSally the winner by 167 votes. She is only the second Republican ever to represent a southern Arizona-based district in the U.S. House of Representatives; the first was Jim Kolbe, who represented what is now the 2nd district, from 1985 to 2007. McSally is also the first female Republican representative from Arizona.

2016 election

McSally ran for reelection in 2016, and was unopposed in the Republican primary. She defeated Democratic opponent Matt Heinz by a margin of 57 to 43 percent in the general election.

Tenure

McSally's portrait during the 115th Congress

After she was first elected to the U.S. House, McSally hired C.J. Karamargin, who was formerly the communications director for Democratic U.S. Representative Gabby Giffords, as her district director.

In her freshman term in Congress, McSally had seven bills approved by the U.S. House. Among all members of the U.S. House, McSally was tied for third as of 2016 in the number of bills she had authored that have made it through the House. Her bills were generally "narrowly drawn proposals to improve homeland security or to help veterans."

During her early years in Congress, McSally had a reputation as a political moderate. According to The Arizona Republic, McSally was "one of the most prolific fundraisers among House members not holding a leadership role, while cultivating a reputation as a conscientious and moderate lawmaker."

U.S. Senate

Elections

2018

A campaign poster for McSally's 2018 Senate campaign

On January 12, 2018, McSally announced her candidacy for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by the retirement of U.S. Senator Jeff Flake. McSally announced her campaign in Tucson, then flew to Phoenix and Prescott for subsequent campaign announcement rallies. An online video announcing McSally's campaign featured her telling Washington, D.C., Republicans "to grow a pair of ovaries." The announcement represented a "sharp right turn" from McSally's centrist reputation.

McSally was expected to run as the establishment candidate in the Republican primary, where her opponents included former State Senator Kelli Ward and former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio. McSally, a strong fundraiser, was the preferred candidate of national Republicans and Arizona Governor Doug Ducey. McSally's history of criticizing President Donald Trump drew rebuke from conservative groups including the Club for Growth, the Senate Conservatives Fund, and FreedomWorks." But in the lead-up to announcing her candidacy for Senate, McSally began to embrace Trump, running ads echoing his conservative immigration policy positions. Politico wrote: "Martha McSally wants to make one thing clear before she launches an Arizona Senate campaign: She's a big fan of President Donald Trump."

McSally speaking at a rally hosted by President Donald Trump in October 2018.

In an August 2018 candidate forum hosted by the Arizona Republic in advance of the Republican U.S. Senate primary, McSally and opponent Kelli Ward both said they were unconcerned with Trump's personal character, viewing it as a nonissue in the race. McSally criticized what she said was the media's and Democrats' "obsession" with Trump's character.

McSally won the August 28 Republican primary with 53 percent of the vote and faced Democratic nominee Kyrsten Sinema in the November general election. The general election remained undecided for several days after election night until all ballots were counted in the close contest. McSally held a lead by the end of election night, but it narrowed over the next few days as more ballots were counted. During this time, both McSally and Sinema voiced support for counting all the ballots. There was no evidence of any fraud. On November 12, McSally conceded to Sinema, congratulating her on becoming Arizona's first female Senator. Sinema won by almost 56,000 votes. In May 2021 former deputy campaign manager Anthony Barry pleaded guilty to the theft of $115,000 campaign funds from the McSally campaign.

2020 special

The death of longtime U.S. senator John McCain on August 25, 2018 triggered, in accordance with the 17th amendment, a special election scheduled for November 2020. McSally ran to complete the term to which she had been appointed by Governor Ducey, defeating skincare executive Daniel McCarthy in the Republican primary. In the general election, she faced former astronaut Mark Kelly, who ran uncontested in the Democratic primary. Kelly defeated McSally with 51.2% of the vote. She initially refused to concede the election even though results showed that the margin was too large to overcome with remaining ballots.

Appointment

After Senator John McCain died and his appointed successor, Senator Jon Kyl, resigned, Arizona's other Senate seat was to become vacant at the beginning of 2019. On December 18, 2018, Governor Ducey announced that he was appointing McSally to the seat.

McSally's appointment proved controversial. McCain's daughter Meghan criticized the appointment, claiming that McSally "didn't earn" her seat, and the conservative Washington Times calling the appointment "anti-democratic." A lawsuit was filed on behalf of Arizona voters claiming the appointment violated the 17th amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The suit was eventually dismissed and the appointment allowed to stand.

McSally and Sinema, who were sworn in on the same day, were the first two women to serve as U.S. senators from Arizona. This made Arizona one of six states with two women serving as its senators (the others were California, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, and Washington). Only once before have two female senators representing the same state at the same time been of different parties (in New Hampshire from 2011 to 2017). McSally was the first senator ever appointed to serve alongside someone to whom she initially lost an election, and the first to serve alongside a colleague she lost to in the election immediately preceding the inauguration. McSally and Sinema were the second pair of senators to serve together after having campaigned against each other the year before; the first such instance occurred in 1996–1997 in Oregon, when Democrat Ron Wyden defeated Republican Gordon H. Smith in a special election, only for Smith to win the regular election for the state's other Senate seat later that year.

Tenure

McSally was sworn in as a U.S. senator on January 3, 2019.

On February 5, 2019, McSally voted for the Strengthening America's Security in the Middle East Act of 2019. Seven days later, along with fellow Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema, she voted for S.47, a public land package. On February 14, McSally voted to confirm William Barr as Attorney General. On February 28, she voted to confirm Andrew Wheeler as EPA Administrator. In February 2020, she voted to acquit President Donald Trump of articles of impeachment on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.

On January 16, 2020, McSally told CNN correspondent Manu Raju "you're a liberal hack. I'm not talking to you", when he asked her whether she would consider new evidence during Trump's impeachment trial in the Senate. She later affirmed her remarks on Twitter and told Fox News's Laura Ingraham, "I'm a fighter pilot... I called it like it is." McSally's election campaign soon began selling the comments on t-shirts.

Committee assignments

• Committee on Armed Services
  • Subcommittee on Airland
  • Subcommittee on Personnel
  • Subcommittee on Readiness and Management Support
• Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs
  • Subcommittee on Housing, Transportation, and Community Development
  • Subcommittee on National Security and International Trade and Finance
  • Subcommittee on Securities, Insurance, and Investment
• Committee on Energy and Natural Resources
  • Subcommittee on Energy
  • Subcommittee on Public Lands, Forests, and Mining
  • Subcommittee on Water and Power (Chairwoman)
• Committee on Indian Affairs
• Special Committee on Aging

Political positions

When she served in the U.S. House, McSally was a member of the Tuesday Group, a congressional caucus of moderate Republicans. She was a member of the Republican Main Street Partnership.

The American Conservative Union gives McSally a lifetime 75% conservative rating; she received a yearly rating of 84% in 2018. The fiscally conservative political action committee Americans for Prosperity gave her a rating of 87% in 2018. Conservative Review gave McSally a 37% conservative score in 2018, and Heritage Action for America gave her a 59% conservative rating. Conversely, the American Civil Liberties Union gave McSally a rating of 23% in 2016, and the Americans for Democratic Action gave her a 5% score.

Budget and taxes

McSally voted in favor of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. She discounted polls showing the bill as unpopular among voters, calling it "hysteria" and "misinformation" and saying that "the best counter to that is when people see money in their paychecks."

Economic policy

McSally opposes the Raise the Wage Act, which would gradually raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour.

In March 2020, McSally became a cosponsor of legislation to repeal the Davis-Bacon Act of 1931, which requires paying laborers and mechanics the local prevailing wages for public works projects.

Education

In 2012, McSally said she "wants the federal government out of the education business."

Energy and environment

McSally did not take a position on Trump's decision to withdraw the United States from the Paris Climate Accord. As of 2019, she had a lifetime score of 6% from the League of Conservation Voters.

In 2015, McSally co-sponsored the Mexican Wolf Transparency Act, a bill that would delist the Mexican wolf as an endangered species and halt a United States Fish and Wildlife Service recovery program that aims to reintroduce the wolf to areas in Arizona.

McSally supported the Apache Solar Project in 2016. In October 2017, once construction was completed, she gave the keynote address at its dedication, calling it a "great example of member-driven co-ops, from the bottom up, figuring out ways to provide reliable power to the community, instead of top-down bureaucrats telling them what to do." She called the project a "case study" for the rest of the country in that other communities could learn how to provide customers with "low-cost, competitive renewable power."

Gun policy

In 2012, when asked about her position on the "gun show loophole", McSally said she opposed limits on gun sales as unconstitutional.

In 2019, the Arizona Mirror wrote that McSally "has suggested some willingness to consider gun control measures, an apparent shift from her previous stance on the topic."

As of 2019, McSally had received $372,615 from gun rights groups, the fifth most of any federal lawmaker since 1989.

Health care

McSally supports repealing the Affordable Care Act ("Obamacare"). In January 2017, she voted for a Republican-sponsored budget resolution that began the process of repealing the Act. When running for the Senate in 2018, McSally said, "we cannot go back to where we were before Obamacare".

McSally supported the March 2017 version of the American Health Care Act, and voted on May 4, 2017, to repeal the Affordable Care Act and pass a revised version of the American Health Care Act. Before voting on the bill, she declined to answer questions by reporters on where she stood, saying "I'm not publicly sharing my position." The version of the American Health Care Act that she voted for had not been scored by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office; the previous version of the bill was estimated to cause 24 million Americans to become uninsured by 2026. The revised version of the bill allowed states to ask for a waiver that would allow insurers to charge individuals with preexisting conditions more. McSally said the bill was "not perfect" but that it was better than the "failed system" of the Affordable Care Act. After the AHCA passed, McSally proposed a stand-alone bill to strike the exemption of Congress from state waiver provisions; it passed by a 429–0 vote and would require 60 votes to pass the U.S. Senate.

In October 2019, McSally was one of 27 senators to sign a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer advocating the passage of the Community Health Investment, Modernization, and Excellence (CHIME) Act, which was set to expire the following month. The senators warned that if the funding for the Community Health Center Fund (CHCF) was allowed to expire, it "would cause an estimated 2,400 site closures, 47,000 lost jobs, and threaten the health care of approximately 9 million Americans".

Immigration

Once a supporter of immigration reform, McSally has embraced a hard-line conservative position on immigration since Trump's election.

In December 2014, McSally criticized Obama's executive actions on immigration (the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program and the Deferred Action for Parents of Americans (DAPA) program), saying that it was "absolutely inappropriate" of Obama to take these actions rather than "allowing the new Congress to sit and try to sort it out". In January 2015, McSally was one of 26 Republicans who voted against an amendment to a spending bill that would end DACA. She said it would be unfair to deport undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children. In September 2017, McSally was one of 10 Republicans who sent a letter to Speaker Paul Ryan asking for a legislative solution for those under DACA status. While criticizing Obama's action in creating the program, the letter said, "It would be wrong to go back on our word and subject these individuals to deportation". In May 2018, while facing a primary challenge from the right, McSally pulled her support and cosponsorship of a DACA bill that she had sponsored since April 2017. Instead, she expressed support for a more conservative bill that would cut legal immigration, dramatically increase spending on border security, and provide indefinite stay for DREAMers but not give them a path to citizenship. In June 2018, CNN reported that the McSally campaign had removed a video from her website in which she praised DACA. According to The Arizona Republic, McSally sought through these actions during the primary "to downplay and hide" her past support for DACA.

McSally tours the border wall system in Yuma with Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf.

In January 2017, after Trump issued an executive order suspending the entry of foreigners from seven Muslim-majority countries into the United States, McSally issued a statement saying the U.S. should look at "gaps in our vetting processes" but that she had "concerns about certain individuals being denied entry".

McSally did not fault the Trump administration for the family separation policy but indicated that she preferred a different outcome than separating immigrant children from their parents. McSally instead criticized Congress for the family separation policy that the Trump administration implemented. When the Trump administration backtracked on the family separation policy, McSally said it was "welcome news".

In 2019, McSally voted against a resolution to reject Trump's use of an emergency declaration to build a border wall.

Internet and technology

Congresswoman Martha McSally, Senators Susan Collins & Jon Kyl at 2018 Small Business Expo in Phoenix, Arizona

McSally opposes net neutrality and signed a letter to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai in December 2017 urging him to repeal the Federal Communications Commission’s Open Internet Order.

In March 2017, McSally and then-Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn co-sponsored the Broadband Consumer Privacy Proposal, which repealed the FCC's internet privacy rules and allowed internet service providers to sell customers' browsing history without their permission.

Social Security

McSally supports privatizing Social Security and raising the retirement age. She has described the existing system as "currently unsustainable".

Electoral history

Personal life

McSally was married to Air Force officer Donald Frederick Henry from 1997 to 1999, when the marriage was annulled.

McSally is a triathlete.

McSally's rescue dog, a Golden Retriever, Boomer, often appears alongside her at events and in videos.

McSally is Protestant.

See also

In Spanish: Martha McSally para niños

• Final Report of the Task Force on Combating Terrorist and Foreign Fighter Travel
• Women in the United States House of Representatives
• Women in the United States Senate