Captain Mark Kelly

Navy combat veteran and retired NASA astronaut. Husband to @GabbyGiffords. United States Senator for the great state of Arizona.

[Captain Mark Kelly @CaptMarkKelly]

Thank you, Arizona.

[Captain Mark Kelly @CaptMarkKelly]

20 years ago, I proposed to @GabbyGiffords at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy. Any guesses on what the inscription on her ring says? There's a hint in this video.

[Captain Mark Kelly @CaptMarkKelly]

https://t.co/6TUbQnlzIX

[Captain Mark Kelly @CaptMarkKelly]

Pete Hegseth (the least-qualified SecDef ever) has fired or blocked the promotions of dozens of female and black military officers. It's not because they aren't qualified. They are. Now we know it's because Hegseth is putting politics ahead of your safety. He should resign.

[Captain Mark Kelly @CaptMarkKelly]

https://t.co/sa6F9hp7Br

[Captain Mark Kelly @CaptMarkKelly]

Arizona Democrats just flipped control of the state legislature. This was decades in the making, and it’ll make a huge difference as we fight to lower costs, protect public schools, and deliver for working families.

[Captain Mark Kelly @CaptMarkKelly]

From Arizona to Georgia to South Carolina and all across the country, voters sent a clear message: This country belongs to working people, not billionaires and the politicians they buy. Now it's time to get to work.

[Captain Mark Kelly @CaptMarkKelly]

https://t.co/OJhlyNg6GJ

[Captain Mark Kelly @CaptMarkKelly]

Washington needs more people making decisions based on science, data, and facts — not politics. Excited to see how these engineers, scientists, and doctors help our country solve hard problems.

[Captain Mark Kelly @CaptMarkKelly]

This Tuesday was a win for the American people. Now we’ll have more people in office fighting for you and your family, not billionaires and big corporations.

[Captain Mark Kelly @CaptMarkKelly]

To everyone who showed up, made calls, knocked doors, and put in the work: thank you. This country is built by people who never back down. You proved that last night. This election is because of you.

[Captain Mark Kelly @CaptMarkKelly]

Lives lost, billions spent for what? Leadership includes the ability to speak truth to power and fight for what’s right, and not just when it’s easy. That quality isn’t one possessed by you or anyone in this administration, and that’s why you continue to fail the American people.

[JD Vance @JDVance]

One of the things the data analysts on our side obsessed over was "composition"—whether the electorate looked close enough to 2024 for Republicans to win. And despite polls that showed a Democrat blowout, the data kept on telling us the same story: in some states turnout was merely OK, in other states it was downright amazing, and in no state was it catastrophic. There was a genuine sense of optimism on our team: our people were showing up.

So, I asked the smartest data guy I know, does that mean we're going to shock the world? "No," he told me. "We might do better than the polls suggest. But the data is telling us that a lot of Trump/Vance 2024 voters are pissed and planning to vote for the other guys. Our voters are turning out, but they may not vote for us."

Well, that looks prophetic now. Our voters did show up. In Florida, for example, the electorate was 9 points more Republican than Democrat, just a couple points worse than 2024. Undoubtedly there were places we could have done better on turnout. But the main problem is not turnout. The main problem is that many people who voted for Trump/Vance in 2024 voted for Democrats in 2026.

There will be a lot of infighting and arguing over what happened and why that is. One of the pollsters I really respect told me that our economic messaging wasn’t sharp enough down the stretch. I’m sure that’s true.

But the real reason we lost is obvious to almost everyone.

Another pollster—one of the smartest people I know in politics, told me yesterday we’d lose the generic ballot by 13 points. I felt negative going into Tuesday, but even I was shocked by this. In his polling, he saw that a lot of Trump 2024 voters were angry and planning to vote for Democrats. He asked those voters who had abandoned us what would cause them to come back on our team. The top four answers, accounting for nearly all of the responses were:

1) End the war
2) Focus on cost of living/inflation
3) Put America First
4) Change our relationship to Israel

Our voters showed up. And the above four reasons are why many of them voted for Democrats. This is according to a pollster who nailed the results. While many spent Monday attacking Rachel Campos Duffy for calling for a diplomatic resolution to the conflict, it turns out her political advice was sound. (She’s also a great person.)

In the next few months, there's going to be a lot of gaslighting. Expect to hear any number of establishment politicians say the solution to our woes is amnesty. I'm open to the idea that we should change enforcement—by focusing more on businesses that hire illegal labor, for instance. But anyone pushing amnesty is lying to you.

The reason we lost is the war. The president himself said so last night.

If you'd like to argue it was worth it, that losing the Senate for the next 6 years was worth it, then do so. Argue it was a worthwhile cost to pay. Agree or disagree, that's at least honest.

But everyone knows why we lost. And any honest conversation about where we go from here must start there.

I remain hopeful about our country. To the people who are pissed off and want to say, “I told you so”: you’re right, you did tell us so. Take that energy into electing Republicans who share your worldview. To the people who are just pissed at the results, you should be. Let’s take that anger and get back to the work of saving our country.

[Captain Mark Kelly @CaptMarkKelly]

.@KatieHobbs, @Adrian_Fontes, and @KrisMayes have been delivering for four years and that’s why Arizonans chose them to keep leading our state, along with our first-ever Lieutenant Governor, @JohnGiles4AZ. I look forward to continuing to work alongside them.

[Captain Mark Kelly @CaptMarkKelly]

Congratulations to Michigan’s next senator, @AbdulElSayed!

[Captain Mark Kelly @CaptMarkKelly]

Trump ignored the needs of the American people and did the exact opposite of what he campaigned on. Tonight is a rejection of him, his policies, and the Republicans in Congress who did nothing but enable him.

[Captain Mark Kelly @CaptMarkKelly]

Congratulations to @TroyJackson207! A fifth-generation logger from Aroostook County is headed to the U.S. Senate. Maine voters wanted someone who has lived their fight, and that’s exactly what they got.

[Gabrielle Giffords @GabbyGiffords]

Congratulations, @CaitForNewYork on your critical win in New York’s 17th district!

New Yorkers in the Hudson Valley deserve a leader who will fight for public safety and work tirelessly to keep guns out of the wrong hands. I’m certain they will have that leader in Cait 👏

[Captain Mark Kelly @CaptMarkKelly]

It only takes meeting @Turek4Iowa once to see exactly what Iowa sees in him: a leader who doesn’t back down from a fight. Congratulations, senator-elect!

[Captain Mark Kelly @CaptMarkKelly]

Kansans of every party took a chance on a leader who brings people together, and he’ll make them proud. Congratulations, @Hamilton4Kansas.

[Captain Mark Kelly @CaptMarkKelly]

Every door knocked and call made over the last two years added up to this, and now we have real power to hold this Administration accountable and fight for working families.

[CNN @CNN]

BREAKING: Democrats will retake control of both the House and Senate, CNN projects, winning significant power to check the White House for the final two years of Donald Trump's presidency. Follow live updates. https://t.co/34g5qFVpVu

[Captain Mark Kelly @CaptMarkKelly]

Congratulations to New Mexico’s next governor, @DebHaalandNM!