PHOENIX — Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly announced Wednesday he supports a limited change of the U.S. Senate’s filibuster rule in order to pass voting-rights legislation that he has co-sponsored.
“If campaign finance and voting rights reforms are blocked again this week, I will support the proposed changes to pass them with a majority vote,” Kelly said in a prepared statement.
“Protecting the vote-by-mail system used by a majority of Arizonans and getting dark money out of our elections is too important to let fall victim to Washington dysfunction.”
Kelly’s statement is significant in several ways:
- Kelly’s support for the so-called "talking filibuster" comes after Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced his plan Tuesday night to implement the rule to try to pass the voting-rights bills.
- That rule would allow Senate Democrats to end debate on legislation with a simple majority vote after Republicans have run out of turns to speak.
- President Joe Biden announced his support for the talking filibuster last year.
- It might help clear a path for the two voting-rights bills that are expected to come before the Senate this week. Biden has endorsed changing Senate rules to allow for a simple majority vote - not the 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster - to pass the legislation. But it remains unclear whether all 50 Democrats in the 50-50 Senate support the bills.
- Kelly’s statement marks a significant break with his Democratic seatmate, Sen. Kyrsten Sinema. Sinema and West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin who are the leading opponents of retaining the filibuster.
- Sinema has said she supports the voting-rights legislation, but not at the expense of doing away with the filibuster. Sinema’s floor speech last week appeared to drive a nail through any hopes of Senate Democrats’ passing Biden’s agenda.
- Kelly is taking a political risk, even with his support of a limited filibuster. He’s up for re-election in November to a full six-year term in the Senate. (His defeat of GOP Sen. Martha McSally in November 2020 allowed him to finish out the remaining two years of the late Sen. John McCain’s term.)
- Kelly has been under fire from Republicans, almost from the day he announced his first run for office three years ago, to state his position on the filibuster. As late as Tuesday, Kelly was giving reporters his stock answer: He’d wait to see the proposed filibuster reforms on a given piece of legislation.
- At the same time, Kelly has seen the political backlash against Sinema among Democrats. Campaigns are under way to recruit a primary challenger when her first term ends in 2024.
Sinema spokeswoman Hannah Hurley said the senator wouldn’t comment on Kelly’s announcement.
But Hurley pointed to this passage in Sinema’s floor speech last week on the filibuster: “Can two Americans of sharp intellect and good faith reach different conclusions to the same question? Yes. Yes, of course they can.”
Here is Kelly’s full statement:
“My year in the Senate has shown me how dysfunctional this place can be, and how that prevents progress on issues that matter to Arizonans. We’re seeing that now, as voting rights legislation remains blocked while partisan politicians work to undermine Arizona’s successful vote-by-mail system and create more barriers to vote.
“As an astronaut and a combat veteran, I can tell you that if NASA or the Navy functioned like the United States Senate, we would never get the rocket off the launchpad and in combat we’d never complete the mission. Arizonans deserve a Senate that is more responsive to the challenges facing our country, which is why I’ve spoken with Arizonans and my Republican and Democratic colleagues about their views on what can be done to make this place work better. I’ve considered what rules changes would mean not just today, but years down the road, for both parties and all Arizonans.
“If campaign finance and voting rights reforms are blocked again this week, I will support the proposed changes to pass them with a majority vote. Protecting the vote-by-mail system used by a majority of Arizonans and getting dark money out of our elections is too important to let fall victim to Washington dysfunction.
“Whether the Senate fails or succeeds in passing this legislation, I will continue doing this job just as I promised Arizonans: delivering results by working with Republicans and Democrats to find common ground as we have on infrastructure, standing up to party politics, and staying focused on doing what is best for Arizona.”
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