Former senator Jon Kyl steps in to fill McCain's Arizona Senate seat

Cindy McCain tweeted: ‘It’s a great tribute to John that he is prepared to go back into public service to help the state of Arizona’

The US Senate seat left vacant by John McCain’s death will be filled by Jon Kyl, a former Republican senator from Arizona, it was announced on Tuesday.

The decision was revealed by McCain’s widow, Cindy, who wrote in a tweet: “Jon Kyl is a dear friend of mine and John’s. It’s a great tribute to John that he is prepared to go back into public service to help the state of Arizona.”

“There is no one in Arizona more prepared to represent our state in the US Senate than Jon Kyl,” Doug Ducey, the governor from Arizona, followed up 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 colleague of so many years.”

Ducey appeared with Kyl at a press conference on Tuesday, where the governor said there was little doubt in his mind over who should succeed McCain.

“As I contemplated who could best serve our state in US Senate, I kept coming back to one person,” Ducey said. “There is no one in Arizona with the stature of senator Jon Kyl.”

Kyl, 76, served alongside McCain for three terms and was the second-ranking Republican in the Senate before his retirement in 2012. A reliable conservative, Kyl has played a key role in guiding Donald Trump’s supreme court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, through the confirmation process on Capitol Hill, where his hearing began stormily on Tuesday.

Ducey signaled Kyl could be sworn into the Senate in the coming days and pushed back against allegations that the appointment was a politically-motivated move based solely on the supreme court nomination.

“Jon Kyl has a record he’s worked across the aisle and he has been lauded by both sides of the aisle,” Ducey said. “I’m picking him because he’s the best possible person.”

A special election is set to occur in 2020 to replace McCain, who succumbed to an aggressive form of brain cancer on 25 August and was memorialized and buried at the weekend. Kyl will serve until at least the end of the year; should he choose not to serve beyond the remainder of 2018, Ducey will have to name another replacement to serve out the rest of McCain’s term.

Kyl would not commit at the news conference to serving beyond January of 2019, when the new Congress will convene after the November midterms. He did, however, rule out running for McCain’s seat in the special election.

“I will not seek this seat in 2020, nor any other office in the future,” Kyl said.

Jeff Flake, the other senator from Arizona, offered Kyl his blessing shortly after the news of his appointment made public.

“What an excellent choice! There is no one more qualified and Arizona is well served,” Flake tweeted. “Kudos to Senator Kyl for his willingness to serve once again.”

Since leaving the Senate, Kyl has worked as a lobbyist at Covington & Burling in Washington DC. Although he has worked closely with the White House on the supreme court nomination, Kyl, much like McCain, has been critical of Trump’s presidency.

“I don’t like his style. I think it is boorish. I think he’s his own worst enemy,” Kyl told an Arizona radio station earlier this year.

“He could be much more effective if he were more politique, more diplomatic – of course that’s one of the things that people like about him – the fact that he isn’t that way. But I think there’s a happy medium.”

Asked about those comments on Tuesday, Kyl said he stood by his criticism – albeit while appearing to compare Trump’s aggressive posture to that of McCain’s.

“I think sometimes his desire to jump into the middle of a fight, or maybe even create a fight – by the way, that reminds me of somebody – sometimes that can be detrimental to what he’s trying to achieve,” he said.