WASHINGTON — Editor's note: You can find a recording of Mark Kelly's swearing-in ceremony below.
Former astronaut Mark Kelly was sworn in to the United States Senate on Wednesday afternoon, four weeks after the Democrat won the race for Arizona's second U.S. Senate seat against incumbent Republican Martha McSally.
Kelly will have a one-month head start on other freshman senators.
State law and Senate rules allowed for the early swearing-in of the winner of a special election after Arizona's election results were made official on Nov. 30.
The ceremony in Washington D.C. began at 12 p.m. Arizona time.
You can watch the swearing-in ceremony here. Kelly will join Today In AZ for a live conversation on Thursday morning.
A statement released by Kelly's team after the ceremony said Kelly was "ready to serve again" and that he was "committed to working with Republicans and Democrats and using science, data and facts to craft policies that will help us overcome our greatest challenges, including tackling this virus and getting our economy back on track."
After the ceremony, President-elect Joe Biden congratulated the new senator.
U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, who joined Kelly when he was getting sworn in, said in a statement that she looks "forward to partnering with Mark Kelly to cut through Washington dysfunction and deliver results for everyday Arizonans—and I am confident Mark will uphold the Arizona values of seeking common ground and putting country above party.”
Kelly’s victory over McSally came in a special election to fill the remaining two years of the late John McCain’s Senate term.
The Senate will have a 52-48 Republican majority once Kelly takes McSally’s place.
Kelly will have to run for re-election in 2022.
Kelly and Sinema will give Arizona two Democratic Senate seats for the first time in 48 years.
Kelly defeated McSally by 78,806 votes in the race for the U.S. Senate seat, finishing with 51.16% of the total vote.
McSally formally conceded the race on Nov. 13, ten days after Election Day.
Kelly joined Team 12's Brahm Resnik on Sunday Square Off in November after the Senator-elect visited the floor of the United States Senate.
“That was actually a ‘moment’ for me,” Arizona’s then senator-elect, a veteran of four space shuttle missions, said on a recent “Sunday Square Off.”
The reality of his new job also set in during Kelly’s D.C. orientation trip.
“The country's got to get back on track on so many things - the economy, coronavirus, health care,” he said. “There's just so much to do.”