Martha Elizabeth McSally was born on March 22,1966 and is an American politician and former military pilot who served as a United States senator for Arizona from 2019 to 2020.
85 Facts About Martha McSally
2.
Martha McSally is the first US woman to fly in combat and the first to command a fighter squadron.
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In 2001, McSally successfully sued the United States Department of Defense in McSally v Rumsfeld, challenging the military policy that required US and UK servicewomen stationed in Saudi Arabia to wear the body-covering abaya when traveling off base in the country.
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Martha McSally was the Republican nominee in Arizona's 2018 US Senate election, losing to Democrat Kyrsten Sinema.
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In 2020 there was a special election coinciding with the general elections to determine whether Martha McSally would serve the remainder of McCain's Senate term.
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Martha McSally lost the election to the Democratic nominee Mark Kelly, a former astronaut and husband of former congresswoman Gabby Giffords.
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Martha McSally opposes same-sex marriage and abortion in "nearly all cases", saying both issues should be decided at the state level.
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Martha McSally opposed and voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act, while supporting the unsuccessful American Health Care Act of 2017.
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Martha McSally was born in 1966 in Warwick, Rhode Island, the youngest of five children.
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When Martha McSally was 12, her lawyer father, Bernard, died suddenly due to a massive heart attack.
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Martha McSally said that the coach used "emotional manipulation" to keep her compliant.
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Martha McSally did not reveal the incident to friends or family until ten years after her graduation.
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Martha McSally then earned a master's degree in public policy from Harvard University's John F Kennedy School of Government and proceeded to pilot training.
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Martha McSally earned her USAF pilot's wings in 1991 after completing Undergraduate Pilot Training at Williams Air Force Base east of Phoenix.
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In 1999, Martha McSally deployed to Europe in support of Operation Allied Force.
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Martha McSally was selected as one of seven active duty Air Force officers for the Legislative Fellowship Program.
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Martha McSally lived in Washington, DC working as a national security advisor to Senator Jon Kyl.
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Martha McSally was deployed to Afghanistan under Operation Enduring Freedom.
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Martha McSally had been working to change the policy for several years and had filed the lawsuit after she had been threatened with a court martial if she did not comply.
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On February 9,2012, Martha McSally announced her candidacy for the special election for Arizona's 8th congressional district vacancy created by the resignation of Gabby Giffords.
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Martha McSally was an unsuccessful candidate in the Republican primary for the special election, finishing second to Jesse Kelly.
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Martha McSally then ran for and won the Republican nomination in the regular election for the district, which had been renumbered the 2nd district.
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Martha McSally faced incumbent Democrat Ron Barber and Libertarian nominee Anthony Powell in the November 2012 election.
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Martha McSally was endorsed by the National Federation of Independent Businesses, the United States Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Wholesalers, and Associated Builders and Contractors.
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Martha McSally led on election night by a few hundred votes, but the race was deemed too close to call due to a large number of provisional ballots.
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That day, the Associated Press determined that there were not enough ballots outstanding for Martha McSally to regain the lead and called the race for Barber.
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Martha McSally declared her intention of running again for the 2nd district seat in 2014.
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Martha McSally is only the second Republican ever to represent a southern Arizona-based district in the US House of Representatives; the first was Jim Kolbe, who represented what is the 2nd district, from 1985 to 2007.
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Martha McSally ran for reelection in 2016, and was unopposed in the Republican primary.
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Martha McSally defeated Democratic opponent Matt Heinz by a margin of 57 to 43 percent in the general election.
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On January 12,2018, Martha McSally announced her candidacy for the US Senate seat being vacated by the retirement of US Senator Jeff Flake.
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Martha McSally announced her campaign in Tucson, then flew to Phoenix and Prescott for subsequent campaign announcement rallies.
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Martha McSally was expected to run as the establishment candidate in the Republican primary, where her opponents included former State Senator Kelli Ward and former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio.
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Martha McSally criticized what she said was the media's and Democrats' "obsession" with Trump's character.
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Martha McSally held a lead by the end of election night, but it narrowed over the next few days as more ballots were counted.
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Martha McSally ran to complete the term to which she had been appointed by Governor Ducey, defeating skincare executive Daniel McCarthy in the Republican primary.
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Martha McSally initially refused to concede the election even though results showed that the margin was too large to overcome with remaining ballots.
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Ducey stated that Martha McSally would be the junior senator, to "respect the will of the voters," and that Sinema would be sworn in before Martha McSally.
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Martha McSally was the first senator ever appointed to serve alongside someone to whom she initially lost an election, and the first to serve alongside a colleague she lost to in the election immediately preceding the inauguration.
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Martha McSally was sworn in as a US senator on January 3,2019.
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On February 5,2019, Martha McSally voted for the Strengthening America's Security in the Middle East Act of 2019.
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In May 2020, Martha McSally said she would not commit to further coronavirus relief funding.
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Martha McSally said that Democratic-voting states and cities, such as Chicago and New York, had mismanaged their budgets for decades and that they should not expect to get aid.
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Martha McSally has argued that, because of the pandemic, China should forgive US debts.
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When she served in the US House, Martha McSally was a member of the Tuesday Group, a congressional caucus of moderate Republicans.
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Martha McSally was a member of the Republican Main Street Partnership.
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Martha McSally supports banning federal funding for abortions but opposed a government shutdown over defunding Planned Parenthood that same year.
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Martha McSally voted in favor of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017.
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Martha McSally called Trump's comments in the Access Hollywood tape "disgusting" and "unacceptable".
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Martha McSally recast herself as a Trump ally and reliable Republican vote in her 2018 campaign for the US Senate.
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In February 2017, Martha McSally voted with her party against a resolution that would have directed the House to request 10 years of Trump's tax returns, which would then have been reviewed by the House Ways and Means Committee in a closed session.
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In December 2019, amid the impeachment inquiry into President Trump over his alleged attempts to get the President of Ukraine to announce an investigation into Joe Biden and his son, Martha McSally said she had not been convinced that Trump should be impeached.
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Martha McSally opposes the Raise the Wage Act, which would gradually raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour.
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In March 2020, Martha McSally became a cosponsor of legislation to repeal the Davis-Bacon Act of 1931, which requires paying laborers and mechanics the local prevailing wages for public works projects.
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Martha McSally did not take a position on Trump's decision to withdraw the United States from the Paris Climate Accord.
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In 2015, Martha McSally co-sponsored the Mexican Wolf Transparency Act, a bill that would delist the Mexican wolf as an endangered species and halt a United States Fish and Wildlife Service recovery program that aims to reintroduce the wolf to areas in Arizona.
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Martha McSally criticized the international nuclear agreement with Iran and has praised defense contractors.
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Martha McSally has been an ardent opponent of the retirement of the A-10 "Warthog", a warplane that has a strong presence at the Davis-Monthan Air Force Base near Tucson.
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Martha McSally opposes the budget sequestration's effects on military spending.
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Martha McSally has introduced legislation to reduce funding for US military bands.
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In 2015, Martha McSally said the air strikes taking place against ISIL were not effective but did not give an opinion on whether the US should send ground troops into Iraq and Syria.
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In July 2018, Martha McSally issued a statement touting Trump's actions to prevent "Russian aggression": she listed sanctions, the expulsion of diplomats, and working with NATO as some of them.
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In January 2019, Martha McSally was one of 11 Republican senators to vote to advance legislation intended to prevent President Trump from lifting sanctions against three Russian companies.
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In October 2019, Martha McSally was one of six senators to sign a bipartisan letter to Trump calling on him to "urge Turkey to end their offensive and find a way to a peaceful resolution while supporting our Kurdish partners to ensure regional stability" and arguing that to leave Syria without installing protections for American allies would endanger both them and the US.
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In 2012, when asked about her position on the "gun show loophole", Martha McSally said she opposed limits on gun sales as unconstitutional.
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When running for the Senate in 2018, Martha McSally said, "we cannot go back to where we were before Obamacare".
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Martha McSally supported the March 2017 version of the American Health Care Act, and voted on May 4,2017, to repeal the Affordable Care Act and pass a revised version of the American Health Care Act.
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Martha McSally said the bill was "not perfect" but that it was better than the "failed system" of the Affordable Care Act.
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In October 2019, Martha McSally was one of 27 senators to sign a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer advocating the passage of the Community Health Investment, Modernization, and Excellence Act, which was set to expire the following month.
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Once a supporter of immigration reform, Martha McSally has embraced a hard-line conservative position on immigration since Trump's election.
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In December 2014, Martha McSally criticized Obama's executive actions on immigration, saying that it was "absolutely inappropriate" of Obama to take these actions rather than "allowing the new Congress to sit and try to sort it out".
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In January 2015, Martha McSally was one of 26 Republicans who voted against an amendment to a spending bill that would end DACA.
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Martha McSally said it would be unfair to deport undocumented immigrants brought to the US as children.
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In September 2017, Martha McSally was one of 10 Republicans who sent a letter to Speaker Paul Ryan asking for a legislative solution for those under DACA status.
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In May 2018, while facing a primary challenge from the right, Martha McSally pulled her support and cosponsorship of a DACA bill that she had sponsored since April 2017.
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In June 2018, CNN reported that the Martha McSally campaign had removed a video from her website in which she praised DACA.
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In January 2017, after Trump issued an executive order suspending the entry of foreigners from seven Muslim-majority countries into the United States, Martha McSally issued a statement saying the US should look at "gaps in our vetting processes" but that she had "concerns about certain individuals being denied entry".
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Martha McSally did not fault the Trump administration for the family separation policy but indicated that she preferred a different outcome than separating immigrant children from their parents.
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Martha McSally instead criticized Congress for the family separation policy that the Trump administration implemented.
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In 2019, Martha McSally voted against a resolution to reject Trump's use of an emergency declaration to build a border wall.
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Martha McSally opposes net neutrality and signed a letter to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai in December 2017 urging him to repeal the Federal Communications Commission's Open Internet Order.
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Martha McSally opposes same-sex marriage and in 2018 said "philosophically, I believe marriage is between one man and one woman, and it should be left to the states".
83.
Martha McSally supports privatizing Social Security and raising the retirement age.
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Martha McSally has described the existing system as "currently unsustainable".
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Martha McSally was married to Air Force officer Donald Frederick Henry from 1997 to 1999, when the marriage was annulled.