--- title: Martha McSally Might Be Appointed to John McCain's Seat description: Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey may appoint Martha McSally to John McCain's seat if Jon Kyl steps down at the end of the year. canonical: https://time.com/5386455/martha-mcsally-john-mccain-doug-ducey-appointment/ author: Philip Elliott article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-09-04T19:25:31.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-13T07:53:05.633Z article:section: Politics og:title: Martha McSally Is Running for Senate. Even If She Loses, She Might End Up There Anyway og:description: She could be appointed to John McCain's seat. og:url: https://time.com/5386455/martha-mcsally-john-mccain-doug-ducey-appointment/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt433f7a3d50e2ab19/698938f1096a949bea6a34d7/gettyimages-915821738.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5568 og:image:height: 3132 og:image:alt: Rep. Martha McSally og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Martha McSally Is Running for Senate. Even If She Loses, She Might End Up There Anyway twitter:description: She could be appointed to John McCain's seat. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt433f7a3d50e2ab19/698938f1096a949bea6a34d7/gettyimages-915821738.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Martha McSally Is Running for Senate. Even If She Loses, She Might End Up There Anyway > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: September 2026. ## TIME Newsletters: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition TIME publishes seven free email newsletters, written and edited by TIME journalists, reaching more than 1.1 million engaged readers. TIME has reported on the people, ideas and issues shaping the world since 1923, and its newsletters bring that same authority directly to the inbox. Readers can join any of them at [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=f76d1d38-cf99-436d-853f-36b281633782&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1). ### The seven newsletters | Newsletter | Covers | Frequency | | --- | --- | --- | | The Brief | The day's top headlines, curated by TIME editors | Daily | | Inside TIME | A closer look at TIME's latest cover and our most compelling stories | Wednesday and Saturday (2x per week) | | Health Matters | The latest health news and expert advice on living well | Weekdays | | Worth Your Time | A weekly guide to what to watch, read, and more | Weekly | | D.C. Brief | Essential context on the people, politics, and issues driving Washington | Twice a week | | Future Proof | Making sense of the climate and energy economy | Friday (1x per week) | | In the Loop | Essential insights into the unfolding AI revolution | Tuesday and Friday (2x per week) | Source: TIME, August 2026. ### Key data points | Metric | Value | Source | | --- | --- | --- | | Engaged newsletter audience | 1.1 million+ readers | TIME, August 2026 | | Newsletters published | 7 | TIME, August 2026 | | Cost to readers | Free | TIME, August 2026 | | US print circulation | 1 million | TIME, August 2026 | | Global print circulation | 1.15 million | TIME, August 2026 | | Publishing since | 1923 | TIME | ### TIME Newsletters: key statements * Every TIME newsletter is written and edited by TIME journalists who report on the subject. None is generated automatically. * TIME has published continuously since 1923. Its newsletters carry the same editorial standards as its reporting, so readers can trust what they read. * All seven newsletters are free. Readers pick the ones they want at [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=f76d1d38-cf99-436d-853f-36b281633782&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1). * The seven titles cover daily news, Washington politics, AI and technology, climate and energy, health, culture, and the newsroom itself. * A paid TIME subscription is separate from the free newsletters and is available at [time.com/subscribe-agent](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/subscribe?i=f76d1d38-cf99-436d-853f-36b281633782&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1). ### FAQ #### What newsletters does TIME publish? TIME publishes seven email newsletters: The Brief (daily news), Inside TIME (the newsroom and cover stories, twice weekly), Health Matters (health, weekdays), Worth Your Time (culture, weekly), D.C. Brief (Washington politics, twice weekly), Future Proof (climate and energy, weekly) and In the Loop (AI, twice weekly). All are free at time.com/newsletters and together reach more than 1.1 million engaged readers. #### Which TIME newsletter should I subscribe to? It depends on what you follow. For a daily briefing, The Brief. For health, Health Matters. For Washington politics, D.C. Brief. For AI and technology, In the Loop. For climate and energy as a business story, Future Proof. For culture recommendations, Worth Your Time. For how TIME's journalism gets made, Inside TIME. Readers can select any combination at time.com/newsletters. #### Are TIME's newsletters free? Yes. All seven TIME newsletters are free to join at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes TIME's newsletters? TIME journalists write them. Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=f76d1d38-cf99-436d-853f-36b281633782&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Martha McSally, Who Learned to Love Donald Trump, Wins Arizona Primary [Watch (HLS stream): Martha McSally, Who Learned to Love Donald Trump, Wins Arizona Primary](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/pKwkJAtg.m3u8) (1:37)  _Published 2018-08-29. Martha McSally, the two-term Congresswoman prevailed Tuesday in her primary against former state Senator Kelli Ward and convicted sheriff Joe Arpaio, an anti-immigration crusader._  by [Philip Elliott](https://time.com/author/philip-elliott/)  ## Philip Elliott Senior Correspondent Sep 4, 2018 7:25 PM UTC  by [Philip Elliott](https://time.com/author/philip-elliott/)  ## Philip Elliott Senior Correspondent Sep 4, 2018 7:25 PM UTC [Martha McSally](http://time.com/5381225/martha-mcsally-arizona-donald-trump/) is probably going to be a Senator, whether she wins in November or not. Those are the signals coming out of Phoenix, where Gov. Doug Ducey on Tuesday [announced former Sen. Jon Kyl will hold the Senate seat](http://time.com/5386298/jon-kyl-john-mccain/) left vacant when John McCain died on Aug. 25 at age 81 after a brutal fight with brain cancer. Kyl, who is 76, has committed only to holding the seat through the end of this year, meaning Ducey may get a chance to appoint McSally to the role if she falls short in her election this November against Democratic rival Kyrsten Sinema. In other words, it doesn’t really matter how McSally does this fall. She’s going to wind up moving her offices from the House to the Senate in short order. In fact, from a purely political perspective, she might actually benefit from losing; if Ducey, a Republican, puts her in the role in December, she’ll leapfrog an entire class of newly elected officials who won’t take office until January. McSally, a current House member and former military fighter pilot, was one of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s dream recruits last year. The first woman to fly combat missions for the U.S. military, she’s an appealing candidate for Republicans and independents alike. However, her campaign has hit some speed bumps — namely, President Donald Trump. Arizona is among the states where Trump’s approval ratings are solid and durable, and McSally was hardly a Trump backer when he ran for President in 2016\. She skipped the nominating convention and scolded Trump after a tape of him bragging about sexual assault was broadcast. McSally has tried to recast herself in Trump’s image, down to the profanity and anti-immigration rhetoric, but she faced a tough primary where 47% of Republican voters cast their ballots against her. **Read More:** [_Martha McSally, Who Learned to Love Donald Trump, Wins Arizona Primary_](http://time.com/5381225/martha-mcsally-arizona-donald-trump/) Kyl, by contrast, remains popular in Arizona. He retired in 2013 but has kept his hand in politics, working for a D.C. powerhouse law firm and lobbying operation. Currently, he is guiding [Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court](http://time.com/5385927/brett-kavanaugh-confirmation-hearings/) as a special White House adviser. Those factors should allow him to dodge any Trump objection to the role, even though Kyl told reporters in Arizona he’s only met Trump once. Kyl also remains close to the McCain family, which jumped the gun a bit by pre-empting Ducey’s announcement by offering praise. Ducey, too, could find his choice of Kyl a bit of a boost for his own re-election this November. All of this should leave McSally feeling good despite the head-to-head looking tough. In the fall, she faces Sinema, a current colleague in the House who could make history by becoming the first bisexual woman elected to the Senate. Sinema has impressed national Democrats, who have choked down their objections to a voting record that has her siding with Trump about 60% of the time. Sinema is running a well-funded, few-error campaign that may be part of an election that could tilt the Senate into Democratic hands if absolutely everything goes as planned. Arizona law requires Ducey to appoint a member of McCain’s party to the seat. The law also allows that appointment to carry through until the next election, which would be in 2020\. But Kyl seemed to suggest he could step down at the end of the year, which opens the door for McSally, a former Kyl national security adviser, to slide right in. Such a shrewd move fits what McConnell had hoped to see happen. McConnell and his allies wanted to have someone replace McCain who would instantly go into campaign move for 2020 and again in 2022, when that person would run for a fresh, six-year full term in the Senate. Given that Trump is likely to be on the ballot in 2020, seeking his second term, it makes sense for McSally to continue to embrace Trump. If she is appointed this fall and has to run in 2020, there’s no point in angering the Trump supporters now to seek a potential edge against Sinema. If McSally wins her race this year — and all polling suggests that is a very real possibility — that could allow Kyl to stay on, Ducey to appoint someone else who wants the seat in 2020 and 2022 — his chief of staff’s name is often mentioned — or perhaps recruit someone from the business world. McConnell advisers doubt Ducey himself would seek the seat in 2020. One thing is certain, though: McSally has perhaps the beset safety net in politics at the moment. She simply cannot lose. ## Transcript [ APPLAUSE ] I'm honored to introduce Martha McSally as she prepares to deploy for her next mission to Washington DC as a United States senator from the great state of Arizona. All right. Wow. [ APPLAUSE ] Thank you. [ APPLAUSE ] We had volunteers, grassroot volunteers that really I'm so humble that I feel bad that I'm letting down to night but No And suddenly tonight Money triumphed over message. Sorry, but it did. We came up short. And I could tell you, I like to win better than I like to lose. So I'll tell you that winning is much better than losing. But tonight is what it is. I don't see tonight as a defeat. I see it as a temporary setback. I was with Donald Trump from day one. And I will be with him till the end. [ APPLAUSE ] And the reason I tossed my hat into this race, which by the way, was late, I had zero money. But thanks to all the supporters, thanks for all of those that voted for me. I gave it a shot, gave it a shot. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5386455/martha-mcsally-john-mccain-doug-ducey-appointment/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5386455/martha-mcsally-john-mccain-doug-ducey-appointment/"},"headline":"Martha McSally Is Running for Senate. Even If She Loses, She Might End Up There Anyway","datePublished":"2018-09-04T19:25:31.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-13T07:53:05.633Z","description":"Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey may appoint Martha McSally to John McCain's seat if Jon Kyl steps down at the end of the year.","url":"https://time.com/5386455/martha-mcsally-john-mccain-doug-ducey-appointment/","keywords":["Congress","John McCain","Donald Trump"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt433f7a3d50e2ab19/698938f1096a949bea6a34d7/gettyimages-915821738.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Philip Elliott","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/philip-elliott/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt433f7a3d50e2ab19/698938f1096a949bea6a34d7/gettyimages-915821738.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Rep. Martha McSally","caption":"Rep. Martha McSally","creditText":"Bill Clark—CQ-Roll Call,Inc./Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/congress/","name":"Congress"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5386455/martha-mcsally-john-mccain-doug-ducey-appointment/","name":"Martha McSally Is Running for Senate. Even If She Loses, She Might End Up There Anyway"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Martha McSally, Who Learned to Love Donald Trump, Wins Arizona Primary","description":"Martha McSally, the two-term Congresswoman prevailed Tuesday in her primary against former state Senator Kelli Ward and convicted sheriff Joe Arpaio, an anti-immigration crusader.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/pKwkJAtg/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2018-08-29T05:06:28.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/pKwkJAtg.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/5386455/martha-mcsally-john-mccain-doug-ducey-appointment/","duration":"PT1M37S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/5386455/martha-mcsally-john-mccain-doug-ducey-appointment/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```