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Polls show a tight race for Mark Kelly...we can win this one
From: MarkKelly.com <info@markkelly.com>
To: (removed)
May 14 at 12:08 PM
Arizona Senate - Predictive Insights 5/01/19
Martha McSally (R): 45%
Mark Kelly (D): 44%
The second poll on our race is in and it’s showing what we already know: people are excited about Mark’s mission for Arizona!
What’s even more important? Our campaign is NOT accepting a single dollar from corporate PACs.
This means our race is going to be funded by lots of people giving small amounts of money – often in response to emails like this.
We’re counting on YOU to help keep the deep-pocketed special interests at bay. So can you make another donation today? You can use this link and select DONATE and his biography, issue statements and more.
https://markkelly.com/
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astronaut-politician
United States
American John Glenn, one of the Mercury Seven selected in 1959 by NASA became the first American astronaut to orbit the earth when he flew the Mercury-Atlas 6 named Friendship 7 for three earth orbits on February 20, 1962, and the first astronaut elected to Congress when he won a Senate seat in 1974. He's been the most successful American Astronaut-politician thus far, serving 25 years in the Senate. He left the manned space program in 1964 and announced that he would challenge incumbent U.S. Senator Stephen M. Young in the Democratic primary at the end of Young's first term in office. Criticism of "astronaut turned politician" Glenn immediately followed his announcement, with critics taking issue with the "undesirable precedent in astronauts' capitalizing on their fame to enter political roles" and some grumbling that Glenn did not follow the standard "step-by-step progression up the political ladder" by "aspiring immediately for the Senate". Speculation also ran strong that then-Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy had promoted Glenn's electoral bid as a means to enhance the Democrat's chances in Ohio. Asked the question while on an official trip in Tokyo, Kennedy would offer no comment beyond stating that he had had "a number of conversations with John Glenn over his future". At the time, fellow Mercury astronaut Gordon Cooper was cited as having met with Democratic Party leaders in Oklahoma to consider a Senate run there. In an editorial shortly after the announcement, The Toledo Blade took exception to the fact that Glenn "presumes too much on his popularity as a spaceman". A slip and fall in a bathtub in March 1964 ultimately led to Glenn's withdrawal from the race. Glenn ran again in 1970, losing the Ohio Senate primary to Howard Metzenbaum. In 1974, Glenn won election to the Senate in a special election to fill the seat of William B. Saxbe. In 1984, Glenn sought the Democratic nomination for President of the United States. He withdrew from the race in March 1984, after winning only two delegates and finishing in 6th place. Glenn returned to space on October 29, 1998 aboard Space Shuttle Discovery (STS-95) while still a sitting Senator. The next year he retired from Congress.
Two Apollo astronauts were elected to the United States Congress. "Astronaut turned Sen. Harrison 'Jack' Schmitt", whose participation on the Apollo 17 mission made him the only geologist to walk on the Moon, resigned from NASA in August 1975 and shortly thereafter ran as a Republican, winning the New Mexico Senate seat in 1976 over two-term Democratic incumbent, Joseph Montoya by a margin of 57% to 42%, despite being described by The New York Times as a "political neophyte". Jack Swigert, who had flown on the ill-fated Apollo 13 mission, was elected in November 1982 to the United States House of Representatives representing Colorado, based on a plan he developed that "evolved from his training as an astronaut and the success of the Apollo exploration of the Moon", but died before taking office.
NASA's Shuttle program has produced American and foreign politicians. In 1985, Senator Jake Garn went into space aboard the STS-51-D flight as a payload specialist and in 1986 Rep. Bill Nelson of Florida became the second sitting member of Congress to travel into space aboard Space Shuttle Columbia's STS-61-C mission, also as a payload specialist. In 2012, shuttle astronaut José M. Hernández ran for Congress in California's 10th District, he won the Democratic nomination, but lost to incumbent Jeff Denham. On February 12th, 2019, four-time shuttle astronaut Mark Kelly announced that he was running for Arizona's Senate seat.
United States
American John Glenn, one of the Mercury Seven selected in 1959 by NASA became the first American astronaut to orbit the earth when he flew the Mercury-Atlas 6 named Friendship 7 for three earth orbits on February 20, 1962, and the first astronaut elected to Congress when he won a Senate seat in 1974. He's been the most successful American Astronaut-politician thus far, serving 25 years in the Senate. He left the manned space program in 1964 and announced that he would challenge incumbent U.S. Senator Stephen M. Young in the Democratic primary at the end of Young's first term in office. Criticism of "astronaut turned politician" Glenn immediately followed his announcement, with critics taking issue with the "undesirable precedent in astronauts' capitalizing on their fame to enter political roles" and some grumbling that Glenn did not follow the standard "step-by-step progression up the political ladder" by "aspiring immediately for the Senate". Speculation also ran strong that then-Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy had promoted Glenn's electoral bid as a means to enhance the Democrat's chances in Ohio. Asked the question while on an official trip in Tokyo, Kennedy would offer no comment beyond stating that he had had "a number of conversations with John Glenn over his future". At the time, fellow Mercury astronaut Gordon Cooper was cited as having met with Democratic Party leaders in Oklahoma to consider a Senate run there. In an editorial shortly after the announcement, The Toledo Blade took exception to the fact that Glenn "presumes too much on his popularity as a spaceman". A slip and fall in a bathtub in March 1964 ultimately led to Glenn's withdrawal from the race. Glenn ran again in 1970, losing the Ohio Senate primary to Howard Metzenbaum. In 1974, Glenn won election to the Senate in a special election to fill the seat of William B. Saxbe. In 1984, Glenn sought the Democratic nomination for President of the United States. He withdrew from the race in March 1984, after winning only two delegates and finishing in 6th place. Glenn returned to space on October 29, 1998 aboard Space Shuttle Discovery (STS-95) while still a sitting Senator. The next year he retired from Congress.
Two Apollo astronauts were elected to the United States Congress. "Astronaut turned Sen. Harrison 'Jack' Schmitt", whose participation on the Apollo 17 mission made him the only geologist to walk on the Moon, resigned from NASA in August 1975 and shortly thereafter ran as a Republican, winning the New Mexico Senate seat in 1976 over two-term Democratic incumbent, Joseph Montoya by a margin of 57% to 42%, despite being described by The New York Times as a "political neophyte". Jack Swigert, who had flown on the ill-fated Apollo 13 mission, was elected in November 1982 to the United States House of Representatives representing Colorado, based on a plan he developed that "evolved from his training as an astronaut and the success of the Apollo exploration of the Moon", but died before taking office.
NASA's Shuttle program has produced American and foreign politicians. In 1985, Senator Jake Garn went into space aboard the STS-51-D flight as a payload specialist and in 1986 Rep. Bill Nelson of Florida became the second sitting member of Congress to travel into space aboard Space Shuttle Columbia's STS-61-C mission, also as a payload specialist. In 2012, shuttle astronaut José M. Hernández ran for Congress in California's 10th District, he won the Democratic nomination, but lost to incumbent Jeff Denham. On February 12th, 2019, four-time shuttle astronaut Mark Kelly announced that he was running for Arizona's Senate seat.
