Press Release
NARAL Pro-Choice America Celebrates as Mark Kelly Secures Democratic Nomination for U.S. Senate Following Arizona Primary
For Immediate Release: August 5, 2020
Contact: [email protected]
Following yesterday’s primary, Mark Kelly has officially secured the Democratic nomination for the hotly contested U.S. Senate race in Arizona. Kelly will now face off against anti-choice, anti-freedom Republican incumbent Senator Martha McSally, who was appointed to the seat last year after her failed Senate bid in 2018.
Yesterday’s primary comes on the heels of new polling that shows McSally trailing Kelly, 41 to 53 percent. Since March, Kelly’s lead over McSally has grown from three to 12 points as McSally continues to align herself with the Trump administration’s extreme ideological agenda.
In response to Kelly’s primary victory, NARAL Pro-Choice America President Ilyse Hogue release the following statement:
“NARAL congratulates Mark Kelly on securing this nomination, and we celebrate being one giant step closer to unseating Senator McSally this November. Arizonans deserve elected officials who fight for their values. Unlike McSally, Kelly is committed to fighting for the freedom and dignity of all Arizonans. He is a proud supporter of reproductive freedom, and stands alongside the strong majority of Arizonans who believe women, not politicians, should be able to make their own decisions about their families and futures. The people of Arizona rejected Martha McSally in 2018 and they’ll do so again in 2020. Her days of rubber-stamping Trump and the Radical Right’s extreme agenda are numbered. NARAL is proud to support Mark Kelly and our members are committed to working tirelessly to send a true champion for reproductive freedom to the Senate.”
NARAL Pro-Choice America Southwest Regional Director Caroline Mello Roberson said:
“These last few months have made clear that Senator Martha McSally is more than willing to jeopardize the health, safety, and freedoms of Arizonans in a desperate attempt to score political points with Donald Trump. Since McSally was first appointed to the Senate, she has helped stack the federal judiciary with unqualified, racist, anti-choice, anti-freedom judges with lifetime appointments. Fortunately for Arizonans, Mark Kelly will safeguard our rights. NARAL and our 45,000 members in Arizona are more determined than ever to make sure McSally is a one-term Senator, and we look forward to celebrating Mark Kelly’s victory in November.”
Mark Kelly is a former astronaut and U.S. Navy captain and husband of former Arizona Congresswoman Gabby Giffords. Senator Martha McSally currently has a 0% score in NARAL’s Congressional Record on Choice and has consistently supported extreme anti-choice positions since being appointed to the seat after losing her Senate campaign in 2018.
As a member of the House of Representatives, McSally voted to limit doctors’ ability to refer abortion care and to restrict health clinics’ access to Title X funding, which helps support family planning and reproductive health services access for 36,402 Arizonans.
Arizona has some of the most severe restrictions on reproductive freedom in the United States, which include interrogating people about why they’re ending a pregnancy, forcing delays before a person can receive abortion care, and subjecting patients to mandatory biased counseling. Last month, NARAL unveiled the Roadmap to Reproductive Freedom in Arizona, which outlines three critical policy priorities for safeguarding and expanding access to abortion in the state.
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NARAL Pro-Choice America and its network of state affiliates and chapters are dedicated to protecting and expanding reproductive freedom for all. For more than 50 years, NARAL has worked to guarantee that every woman has the right to make personal decisions regarding the full range of reproductive choices, including preventing unintended pregnancy, bearing healthy children, and choosing legal abortion. Since 1969, NARAL has made history, grown to over 2.5 million members, and met the moments that have defined this fight with action, power, and freedom. In recognition of its work defending our constitutional right to choose, Fortune Magazine described NARAL as “one of the top 10 advocacy groups in America.”