Vice President Kamala Harris is eyeing a host of potential running mates for her presidential bid, including Democratic Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, who has frequently crossed the aisle to work on environment and mining legislation and is well-versed in ongoing disputes over the Western United States’ historic drought.
Kelly, a former astronaut, has seen his vice presidential bid boosted recently by congressional allies for his history of winning tight elections in a swing state and his record on immigration.
While his centrist bent on certain issues like labor has some advocates concerned, others point to his experience with water and drought policy and note his science background. Climate change advocates say such a portfolio could be a boost for environmental policy.
“That background as a scientist really does mean someone who has demonstrated that he can look at the facts and address this in a way that matches what the science demands,” said Holly Burke, spokesperson for Evergreen Action, which has endorsed Harris but has not come out in support of a particular vice presidential candidate.
“Serving as a senator from Arizona has given him a lot of first-hand experience with what climate impacts mean for communities in the U.S. right now,” she said.
“And he’s done a ton of work in working out water rights with tribes in Arizona, doing a lot of drought preventive action through bills like the Inflation Reduction Act, and he’s been a big booster of clean energy jobs through things like the IRA.”
Harris, who is now the presumptive Democratic nominee for president following President Joe Biden’s exit from the race earlier this month, is also considering Democratic Govs. Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, Tim Walz of Minnesota and Andy Beshear of Kentucky, among others. Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper of North Carolina withdrew from consideration Monday.
Kelly, in his four years in the Senate, has joined with Republicans on legislation that would fast-track environmental reviews for constructing semiconductor facilities — a major issue for his state. He’s also worked on banning uranium mining around the Grand Canyon and sought to get copper designated as a critical mineral.
Kelly served as an aviator in the Navy, and then as a Space Shuttle astronaut. He’s the husband of former Rep. Gabby Giffords (D-Ariz.), who left the House in 2012 after an attempted assassination that left her severely injured.
He leaned heavily on his time in space in his 2020 Senate campaign, in which he frequently discussed the awe and concern he felt seeing the Earth from space.
He beat then-incumbent Martha McSally (R) in that race. It was a special election to serve out the late Sen. John McCain’s (R) term, so he had to run again in 2022 for a full term.
Gas tax cut, drought, permitting
Kelly faced Republican Blake Masters in that election, where he focused on economic issues, including the high price of gasoline at the time. When Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, it sent oil and gas prices soaring. He joined in a push to halt the 18.4-cent-per-gallon federal fuel tax.
But he also promoted his work on drought relief. The western U.S. drought has been a long-standing priority during Kelly’s time in the Senate.
He’s been a vocal advocate for Arizona in talks surrounding the Colorado River, pushing to ensure that any cuts to water rights in negotiations over the river’s future are shared by states across the basin. He’s taken the lead in legislation to carry out a $5 billion tribal water rights settlement.
He’s also in a leading position on renewing the Water Resources Development Act, S. 4367, within the Environment and Public Works Committee.
Kelly has been an advocate for the mining industry in Arizona, including pushing the Biden administration unsuccessfully to classify copper as a critical mineral and legislation to clean up abandoned mines, S. 3858.
The mine cleanup bill, which he co-sponsored with Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), passed the Senate in April. He’s also worked to ban uranium mining on land near the Grand Canyon.
Another long-term priority for Kelly has been the “Building Chips in America Act,” S. 2228, which he sponsors alongside Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas).
It would exempt permitting for some microchip manufacturing facilities — a major industry in Arizona — from environmental reviews under the National Environmental Policy Act.
Kelly and Cruz have tried time and time again to get the legislation passed. The Senate has passed it both as stand-alone legislation and as part of the annual defense bill, but the House has not taken it up.
They’ve also tried to attach it to a Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization bill and a supplement national security appropriations bill this year.
Dinged on pipeline, union votes
On other environmental issues, Kelly showed some skepticism of the Biden administration’s waters of the United States rule to define the scope of the Clean Water Act, but voted against legislation to overturn it. And he’s been critical of some of EPA’s decisions on air pollution.
That kind of moderate record could put Kelly at a disadvantage in the vice presidential race.
Saul Levin, political director at the Green New Deal Network, said Kelly has shown “promise” as a potential Harris running mate, and he appreciates the ability to attract rural voters and people in swing states. He also praised Kelly’s science background.
But he took issue with two specific actions Kelly has taken: voting against an amendment from Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) that would have removed approval for the Mountain Valley natural gas pipeline and his previous opposition to the “Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act.” That latter legislation makes it easier to organize labor unions that has widespread Democratic support.
“That’s not just a labor issue, that’s an every Democrat issue, that’s a climate issue,” Levin said. “If you’re unsure whether you should support the baseline for workers’ rights, that’s not something that we’re compromising on.”
Most Senate Democrats voted for Kaine’s amendment to strip Mountain Valley approval from last year’s Fiscal Responsibility Act, but the amendment failed by a vote of 30 to 69.
And Kelly flipped his position on the “PRO Act” last week amid the vice presidential talk, and now supports it, he said. Levin wasn’t impressed, however. “We remember,” he said.
This story also appears in Climatewire and Energywire.
