Kelly was 314 Action’s first endorsement of the 2020 Cycle. The group raised and spent millions to secure his victory and plans to do the same in 2022.
June 29, 2021
PHILADELPHIA — Today, 314 Action Fund announced its endorsement of astronaut and engineer Sen. Mark Kelly in his 2022 re-election race for U.S. Senate in Arizona. Kelly was 314 Action Fund’s first endorsement of the 2020 cycle, and they raised nearly $3 million directly for his campaign to elect him to his first term.
Last cycle, 314 Action Fund collected hundreds of thousands of signatures to successfully draft Kelly to run for U.S. Senate, a move that garnered significant press and on-the-ground attention from Arizonans.
“We were proud to help deliver Democrats the Senate majority in 2020 by recruiting and electing strong scientists to office, and we can’t wait to do it again by re-electing astronaut, engineer, and Senator Mark Kelly next November,” said Shaughnessy Naughton, president of 314 Action. “In his time in the Senate, Senator Kelly has proven himself as a leader Arizonans deserve — someone focused on economic recovery, reforming our nation’s aging infrastructure, and putting facts and science first as Arizona and the United States moves forward from the COVID-19 pandemic together. With the Arizona GOP already engaging in a dangerous, race-to-the-bottom primary — becoming a competition between who can demonstrate most fealty to the former president over talking about issues that matter to Arizonans — we know that Senator Kelly will always keep his state and his constituents at the top of his mind.”
“As a retired Navy pilot, engineer, and NASA astronaut, I’ve spent my career using science, data, and facts to get things done,” said Senator Mark Kelly. “Now as a senator, I’m working to do the same — rising above partisan politics and working with Republicans and Democrats to deliver real results for Arizonans. I’m proud to have the support of 314 Action in that mission.”
Ahead of this critical U.S. Senate election, 314 Action Fund will commit its vast resources and six-million-strong membership base of grassroots supporters to ensure that Kelly wins his re-election in Arizona. In the 2020 cycle, 314 Action Fund’s independent expenditure arm spent over $11.5 million, including over $700,000 in Arizona, and the organization invested an additional $100,000 to elect scientists to Arizona’s state legislature.
In 2022, 314 Action Fund will aim to spend $50 million to elect scientists across all levels of government, with initial targets of seven U.S. Senate races — including Arizona — forty U.S. House races, and twenty-one statewide races. In 2020, the organization spent $25 million on behalf of its endorsed candidates and raised a total of $5 million in grassroots donations for scientists running for office.
ABOUT SEN. MARK KELLY:
Sen. Mark Kelly is an engineer and NASA astronaut. A graduate of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy and the U.S. Naval Postgraduate school, Kelly spent 25 years in the Navy and at NASA. As an astronaut who spent nearly two months in space, including aboard the International Space Station and the Space Shuttle Endeavor, Kelly knows the importance of facts and evidence in everyday decision making.
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314 Action Fund is powered by a grassroots community of over six million people working to elect scientists, doctors, and STEM professionals who will use science and facts to address our most pressing issues like climate change and health care. In 2018 and 2020, we played a pivotal role in flipping the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate, electing eleven Democratic scientists to federal office, as well as over 100 to state and local offices. In 2021 and 2022, 314 Action Fund will continue working to elect science leaders and defeat climate deniers in Congress and legislatures across the country.