XPost: alt.politics.guns, alt.rush-limbaugh, sac.general   
   XPost: alt.politics.communism   
   From: communists@splcenter.org   
      
   Former astronaut Mark Kelly was sworn in as the new U.S. senator   
   from Arizona on Wednesday, after flipping the highly prized   
   Senate seat for Democrats last month.   
      
   Vice President Pence officiated the ceremony, as is customary in   
   his role as president of the Senate.   
      
   Kelly defeated Republican Martha McSally in November's special   
   election, one of the most closely watched Election Day races, as   
   Democrats had been attempting for years to push the state   
   further blue. His swearing-in trims Republicans' Senate majority   
   in the current term to 52-48.   
      
   Kelly, who brings experience in the military as well as NASA,   
   was able to take his oath of office in December, as opposed to   
   other incoming senators who will be sworn into office in   
   January. Kelly's freshman term, ending in 2022, fills the   
   remaining term of the late Republican Sen. John McCain, who died   
   of brain cancer in 2018.   
      
   Kelly was accompanied by his wife, Gabby Giffords, a gun-safety   
   advocate and former Democratic congresswoman from Arizona.   
   Giffords served in the House until a 2011 assassination attempt   
   caused her resignation the next year.   
      
   The Capitol chamber was filled with dozens of senators, many   
   socially distanced, with a larger share of Democrats in   
   attendance. Kelly was met on the floor with elbow bumps — which   
   have replaced the traditional handshake as the favored mode of   
   greeting during the pandemic — by Senate Majority Leader Mitch   
   McConnell and many other members after the ceremony.   
      
   Kelly's twin brother, Scott Kelly, also a retired astronaut,   
   watched the ceremony from the Senate chamber's public gallery.   
   The gallery hasn't hosted guests for several months as a result   
   of the pandemic.   
      
   "Awesome! A-plus!" Giffords said when asked for her reaction.   
      
   Scott Kelly said the moment was little surreal.   
      
   "Very exciting," he said, adding he had a good feeling this day   
   was coming during the campaign. He added, "I've known him since   
   my whole life. So definitely not something you ever expect. But,   
   you know, I'm honored to have my brother now in the U.S. Senate."   
      
   Claudia Grisales contributed to this report.   
      
   https://www.npr.org/2020/12/02/941507362/democrat-mark-kelly-   
   sworn-in-as-new-senator-from-arizona   
       
      
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