Arizona U.S. Senator Mark Kelly called President Joe Biden one of the most consequential presidents in U.S. history today. Kelly credited the president with leading the nation out of the pandemic, bringing back microchip and clean energy manufacturing, and rebuilding the nation’s infrastructure as some of his accomplishments.
Kelly also gave a full-throated endorsement for Vice President Kamala Harris to step in and replace Biden at the top of the Democratic Presidential ticket. Kelly said the vice president is the right person to defeat Donald Trump and lead our country into the future.
Kelly’s name has come up in recent days as a potential presidential or vice-presidential candidate in the event Biden withdrew from the race.
The former astronaut and fighter pilot is married to former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, herself the target of an assassination attempt in 2011. Giffords was wounded and six people were killed during a constituent meeting in a supermarket parking lot in Tucson.
I couldn’t be more confident that Vice President @KamalaHarris is the right person to defeat Donald Trump and lead our country into the future. She has my support for the nomination, and Gabby and I will do everything we can to elect her President of the United States. 🇺🇸
— Captain Mark Kelly (@CaptMarkKelly) July 21, 2024
It all comes after President Biden announced Sunday morning that he would be stepping away from his re-election campaign, and he gave his endorsement to his VP, Kamala Harris, for president.
Harris has since announced she intends "to earn and win" the Democratic nomination for president after Biden's departure.
Kelly is among the Arizona leaders reacting to the news that President Biden is dropping out of the race.
It's not yet clear how the nominating process for the Democrats will now play out, with their convention scheduled for mid-August.
