Jon Llewellyn Kyl is an American politician serving as the junior United States Senator from Arizona since September 5, 2018, succeeding the late John McCain. A member of the Republican Party, he previously held Arizona's other seat in the U.S. Senate from January 1995 to January 2013, serving alongside McCain. Kyl was Senate Minority Whip from 2007 until 2013.
The son of U.S. Representative John Henry Kyl and Arlene Kyl, Kyl was born and raised in Nebraska and lived for some time in Iowa. He received his bachelor's degree and law degree from the University of Arizona. He worked in Phoenix, Arizona as an attorney and lobbyist before winning election to the United States House of Representatives, where he served from 1987 to 1995. He was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1994 and continued to be re-elected by comfortable margins until his retirement in January 2013. In 2006, he was recognized by Time magazine as one of America's Ten Best Senators. Kyl was ranked by National Journal in 2007 as the fourth-most conservative U.S. Senator. He has been a fixture of Republican policy leadership posts, chairing the Republican Policy Committee and the Republican Conference . In December 2007, he became Senate Minority Whip. He was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2010 for his persuasive role in the Senate.Kyl announced in February 2011 that he would not seek re-election to the Senate in 2012 and would retire at the end of his third term. He expressly ruled out running for further office except, if offered, the Vice Presidency. After leaving the Senate in 2013, he worked as an attorney in private practice and then worked to shepherd the Supreme Court nomination of Brett Kavanaugh.In September 2018, Kyl was appointed by Governor Doug Ducey to serve in the Senate seat left vacant by the death of John McCain. At a press conference accepting the appointment, Kyl announced that he may only serve until the end of the 115th United States Congress, which ends on January 3, 2019, but that he would definitely not run for the remainder of the term following the 2020 special election.
✵ 25. April 1942
