Former Senator Jon Kyl will be named by Arizona governor Doug Ducey to replace Senator John McCain, at least through the end of this year.
Kyl has agreed to serve through the end of the year in order to step in and wrap up unfinished business McCain left behind.
“There is no one in Arizona more prepared to represent our state in the U.S. Senate than Jon Kyl,” Ducey said in a statement. “He understands how the Senate functions and will make an immediate and positive impact benefiting all Arizonans. I am deeply grateful to Senator Kyl for agreeing to succeed his friend and college of so many years.
“Every single day that Jon Kyl represents Arizona in the United States Senate is a day when our state is being well-served.”
Kyl represented Arizona in the U.S. Senate from 1995 through Jan. 3, 2013. There, he served as minority whip, the second-highest position in the Republican conference. Before ascending to the Senate, he served in the House of Representatives from 1987 to 1995.
Jon Kyl will toe the hard-right line. He was the first to propose to the Federalist Society that all of President Obama's Supreme Court nominees should be filibustered. That was in 2008, before Obama's inauguration. He doubled down on that in 2010.
Kyl has been Brett Kavanaugh's sherpa around the Senate, so it is a given that he will reliably vote to confirm Kavanaugh, despite his nomination by a corrupt, compromised, illegitimate president.
And finally, it's likely Kyl could do real harm to the ACA. As you might recall, Kyl was the one in committee meetings during the ACA who grumbled about including maternity coverage, since he would never need it.
