U.S. Senate candidate Mark Kelly gave the first national interview of his campaign on Wednesday, appearing on The View, where he addressed a variety of issues ranging from gun safety laws to climate change to a controversial email sent by the chair of the Arizona Republican Party.
Kelly told View hosts he decided to run because “elections are important” and after seeing the direction the U.S. has gone in over the last few years, he thinks he has something to offer.
A retired astronaut and Navy captain who is running as a Democrat, Kelly said he would represent a change from the status quo that he says has not helped Arizona. “We have some serious issues that we’re facing in the state of Arizona and they’re not often being addressed,” Kelly said.
He also said he’d be a strong independent voice for Arizonans and would “not influenced by any corporation or political party … I think independence is so important, independence from the political party.”
Later in the interview, Kelly addressed the condition his wife, Gabby Giffords, a former Congresswoman in Arizona who nearly died after a gunman shot her during a public meeting with constituents in 2011. Kelly said she was doing great and continued to work hard to promote stronger gun safety laws through her Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, an organization dedicated to combating gun violence.
When asked about his own stance on gun law reform, Kelly — who is a gun owner himself — said he supports common sense gun safety legislation that is supported by most Arizonans, such as universal background checks, red flag laws and stronger domestic violence legislation to help protect women.
Fifty-four percent of Arizonans say the state’s gun laws aren’t strict enough, according to an August poll of likely presidential election voters from OH Predictive Insights.
Kelly’s position on gun safety has raised the ire of the Arizona Republican Party and recently prompted Arizona GOP Chairwoman Kelly Ward to write a fundraising email saying Republicans will “stop gun-grabber Mark Kelly dead in his tracks.”
Kelly said the email was “uncalled for” and that there was no place for that kind of language in our political discourse.
He was also asked about climate change and was clear that action needed to be taken. “We’ve got to figure out a way to get from fossil fuels to get to more renewable energy and I think we’ve got a decade or so to figure this out, but we can’t continue to wait,” Kelly said.
He underscored the urgency of the matter by adding “Make no mistake, we have no place else to go.”
Keya Vakil Keya is a reporter at COURIER, where he covers everything from healthcare to climate change. Prior to joining Courier Newsroom, Keya worked as a researcher in the film industry and dabbled in the political world.
