Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly will campaign in Michigan and South Carolina next month, according to an aide, visits to early presidential primary states that are certain to stir speculation about his future.
For the senator, however, the stopovers are part of a broader effort to help Democrats ahead of November’s midterm election — especially in red districts and states that aren’t always welcoming to national Democratic politicians.
Since last year, Kelly has visited 15 states to boost Democratic candidates, meeting voters, rallying with volunteers and raising money to help the party win House and Senate seats. The campaign stopovers have been concentrated in purple and red states, including North Carolina, Georgia, Ohio, Iowa and Kansas, each of which is home to a competitive Senate race.
In October, Kelly will visit another purple state, Michigan, to campaign with Democratic nominee Abdul El-Sayed, and a red state, South Carolina, to help Democratic Senate nominee Annie Andrews.
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In an interview with The Washington Sun, Kelly reiterated that he would consider a potential presidential run after November but, for now, he is focused on this year’s election.
But the aggressive campaign schedule nonetheless serves a dual purpose, helping Democrats this year while signaling to potential donors, activists and voters that the senator can effectively campaign in even red states and districts, winning over the kinds of voters any Democratic presidential nominee would need in a general election.
“All of us need to be out there and do whatever we possibly can to help candidates get across the finish line,” Kelly said. “Some of these races are going to be really close, but we have an opportunity to win in some unexpected places.”
Kelly visited another early presidential state on Saturday, walking in the Navajo Nation Parade in New Mexico, before campaigning in his own state of Arizona.
Aides say that Kelly has also raised or contributed more than $10 million for Democratic candidates or party committees this election cycle, including over $3.5 million to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and $2 million to the Democratic National Committee. And in August, the senator raised more than $350,000 for Sherrod Brown, the Democratic Senate nominee in Ohio, after a three-day tour of the state.
Kelly, who has twice won the swing state of Arizona, said he’s able to campaign in deep Republican turf in part because of his blue-collar background. Both his parents were police officers.
“I didn’t go to some fancy Ivy League school,” he said. “I went to the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, where, along with a degree in engineering, I learned how to weld and start up a boiler, and worked in hot and sweaty engine rooms. I think I have a background that resonates with a lot of working-class people.”
“I went into the Navy, but my dad wasn’t like an admiral in the Navy, right? I didn’t have a trust fund. I just worked my way up.”
Kelly demurred when asked why Iowa, where he campaigned last month with Democratic Senate nominee Josh Turek, has trended away from Democrats.
“I haven’t been doing this a long time. I’m sure somebody wrote a paper in some political science class on it,” the senator said. “I think these things often go in cycles in different places and people are frustrated and when they don’t feel like the government is delivering for them and making smart choices for them and their families, they go in a different direction.”
Kelly is one of many Democrats eyeing a presidential run who have actively tried to help Democrats win races this year, in what strategists say is an early attempt to woo the party before the primary starts in earnest next year. Former Vice President Kamala Harris is set to campaign in some electoral battlegrounds, including Georgia next month, while Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced a new political action committee this week that would spend $20 million on midterm races.
Former Department of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, meanwhile, has traveled extensively this year, making public appearances in roughly 30 states on behalf of nearly 50 candidates. He, like Kelly, has also campaigned in some deeply red areas, and this past weekend campaigned in a battleground House district in Arizona.
“It’s a signal to both voters and the opinion-makers that this is someone who can appeal to red-state swing voters,” said Addisu Demissie, who managed Cory Booker’s 2020 presidential campaign and has also worked with Democrats including California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who recently campaigned for Democrats in South Carolina. “And that has traditionally been an important criteria that Democratic primary voters evaluate their presidential candidates on.”
Kelly already has some credibility in that area, Demissie added, given his swing-state success. He also has more than $20 million banked in his own federal campaign account, money that could immediately seed a presidential bid should he decide to run.
The senator, whose public fight with Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has helped raise his national profile, told The Sun that he would make a decision about running for president on his own timeline and not be pressured into making a quick decision after November.
“It’s full speed ahead until November,” Kelly said. “On the other side of that, at some appropriate point, I don’t know exactly when that is, but I’ll make a decision, whether or not … I feel it’s the right thing for, first, the country, and then for my family, to pursue higher office.”
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