Opinion | Mark Kelly stands out among potential VP choices for Harris

It’s straightforward to make an argument for any of them, however I believe Harris’s smartest choice can be Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona.

Kelly’s credentials start together with his dazzling biography as a combat-tested Navy pilot and NASA astronaut who commanded shuttle missions aboard each the Discovery and Endeavour and traveled greater than 20 million miles in area.

He has additionally turned out to be a supremely skillful politician in a troublesome state the place the Biden-Harris ticket has been operating behind. Kelly gained an in depth race in 2020 to fill the unexpired time period of John McCain (R) after which circled to win it once more two years later — this time, with a extra comfy five-point margin in opposition to a hard-right Republican election conspiracy theorist endorsed by Donald Trump. Kelly considerably outperformed late polls exhibiting him behind within the race. (If Kelly had been to be elected vice chairman, Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, would appoint a alternative to function senator till a particular election in 2026.)

Choosing Kelly, who at 60 is roughly the identical age as Harris, would assist inoculate her in areas the place she is more likely to be weak. That begins with immigration. Trump’s marketing campaign has already made clear this is able to be a line of assault in opposition to Harris. The previous president has labeled her Biden’s “border czar,” an inaccurate description of her portfolio coping with the foundation causes of migration from Central America.

Kelly has been crucial of his social gathering’s hesitance, till lately, to take a robust stand on border safety. However he additionally calls out Republicans for wanting to attain factors on the problem somewhat than making progress.

“Once I first bought to Washington, it didn’t take me lengthy to comprehend that there are plenty of Democrats who don’t perceive our southern border and plenty of Republicans who simply wish to discuss it, don’t essentially wish to do something about it, simply wish to use it politically,” he advised me shortly after his 2022 victory. “So my method has been — to the extent that we may and might — to make progress on securing it, but in addition doing it in a means that’s in accordance with our ethics and our values, to not demonize folks.”

Kelly retired from NASA and the Navy after a 2011 assassination try at a Tucson grocery retailer left his spouse, then-Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, severely disabled and 6 others lifeless. Whereas overseeing her care as she slowly regained a few of her capacity to talk and stroll, Kelly developed a brand new understanding of how this nation’s gun legal guidelines work — and don’t.

“I used to be a gun proprietor, supporter of the Second Modification, as I nonetheless am,” he advised me in a July 2022 interview for a profile I used to be writing about Giffords. “However I didn’t actually know the main points.” The couple based a corporation that has helped go wise gun legal guidelines in practically each state.

What many Second Modification supporters don’t notice, Kelly advised me, is “how we make it very easy for criminals and home abusers and people who find themselves dangerously mentally ailing to get entry to weapons like no different nation on the planet. No person else does this. Due to it, we have now a very excessive fee of individuals getting shot and folks die.”

Kelly stays a gun proprietor who’s comfy speaking concerning the problem in a means that different Democrats should not. I as soon as requested him what number of firearms he has. “In all probability have extra weapons than the common Arizonan,” he replied.

Gun security is a matter that ought to acquire extra prominence once more after a 20-year-old with entry to an AR-style rifle tried to kill Trump at a rally on July 13. Corey Comperatore, a former fireplace chief who was within the viewers, was killed whereas attempting to guard his household, and two others had been significantly injured.

Kelly has discovered some fundamentals within the brief time he has been in politics, which he would absolutely carry to a nationwide ticket.

“If you’re operating for the USA Senate or any statewide workplace, you’ve bought to go and speak to everyone and speak to them about issues they care about, whether or not it’s the price of gasoline or, particularly in Southern Arizona, concerning the border, which is a disaster,” he advised me in 2022. “So don’t run away from the problems.”

He made his title as an astronaut. However in politics, Mark Kelly can let you know, crucial factor is to remain near the bottom.