Following an unsuccessful bid in 2012, McSally was elected to the House of Representatives in 2014 and served two terms. McSally was the Republican nominee in Arizona's 2018 U.S. Senate election and lost a close race to Democrat Kyrsten Sinema. After interim Senator Jon Kyl resigned from the state's other Senate seat, Governor Doug Ducey appointed McSally to replace him. In 2020 there was a special election coinciding with the general elections to determine whether McSally would serve the remainder of the Class 3 Senate term. She lost the election to the Democratic nominee, former astronaut Mark Kelly, husband of former congresswoman Gabby Giffords.