Mark Kelly: former Space Shuttle commander to 2028 commander-in-chief?

The 2028 presidential election is exactly three years from today. Imagine a burned-out nation on the verge of a meltdown from campaign fatigue.

For Republicans, the question of who will be President Trump’s MAGA-man successor is already a hot-button issue. Recently, the president “endorsed” his dream ticket — Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio — and gloated, “We have JD obviously, the vice president, who’s great. Marco’s great. I’m not sure if anyone would run against those two. I think if they ever formed a group, it would be unstoppable.”

Nonetheless, Earth will orbit the sun three times before voters have their final say. Therefore, alternative Republican candidates could emerge while Republican and Independent primary voters might reject a predetermined, finger-on-the-scale ticket anointed by an unpopular lame-duck president. As shown by Tuesday’s off-year election, Trump’s name was invisibly at the top of every ballot, and he got slammed.

Assuming no seismic events occur before Nov. 7, 2028, that lead to a President JD Vance, expect Republican ticket drama to be relatively mild compared to the costly, brutal struggle that will produce a Democratic presidential nominee.   

In late September, The Hill published “Ranking the Democratic contenders for president in 2028.” California Gov. Gavin Newsom led that list of 10 names, and after Tuesday’s redistricting win, strengthened his top position.

Not even on that list was Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) — an oversight likely to change. In 2024, Kelly’s national profile rose after he was on Kamala Harris’s short list of potential vice presidential nominees, but she instead chose Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. 

Now, the senior Arizona senator appears to be in a presidential exploratory “teasing mode.” During a July 27 CNN interview, “State of the Union” anchor Jake Tapper noted that Kelly was “videoconferencing in from Pennsylvania and recently did a town hall in Michigan.” When Tapper said, “Both of them are key battleground states” and asked, “Yes or no: Are you considering running for president in 2028?” Kelly coarsely responded, “I’m not going to give you a yes or no answer.”

Translation: Kelly is ground-testing his viability.

Also in July, Axios reported that Kelly had $7.9 million in his campaign coffers, which “can legally be transferred to a presidential campaign account.” Complicating his presidential decision is Kelly’s potential 2028 Senate reelection bid. In 2022, he won reelection with 51 percent — the same sort of narrow victory he enjoyed in the 2020 special election that gave him the remaining two years of the late Sen. John McCain's (R-Ariz.) unfinished term. Undoubtedly, a 2028 Senate reelection campaign would be highly competitive in swing-state Arizona.

Furthermore, hinting at presidential interest, in September, Kelly was seen in South Carolina — an early, must-win primary state — speaking with key state legislators. He is a straightforward politician serving on both the Senate Armed Services Committee and the Select Committee on Intelligence. Keep an eye on Kelly’s name appearing in 2028 presidential rankings as his national media profile rises, showing that he is articulate, informed and authentic.

This week, The Hill called Kelly "a prominent centrist who is in the middle of the talks," along with eight other Democratic senators, who are working to end the government shutdown. However, that “prominent centrist” is also an extraordinary American hero in an age when showman “celebrity” candidates and attention-seeking officials dominate the media.

Kelly, a former astronaut, flew on four Space Shuttle missions from 2001 to 2011, commanding his last two after piloting the first two. Before joining NASA in 1996, he was an experienced naval aviator and test pilot, completing 375 carrier landings and 39 combat missions during Operation Desert Storm.

In the political arena, Kelly’s distinguished military and astronaut careers should never be underappreciated, because doing so diminishes American greatness. Considering the high-tech, globally competitive era in which a world war often seems just a headline away, Kelly’s exceptional skills honed through the military, space, and science, with experience on key Senate committees, could translate into presidential leadership during these unstable times.

Personally traumatic was the horrific shooting of his wife, former Rep. Gabby Giffords (D-Ariz.). In January 2011, while holding a supermarket parking lot forum in Tucson, Ariz., Giffords survived a bullet to the head. Six of her constituents died and 12 others were wounded. Mark Kelly’s reaction was a profile in courage, love, and sacrifice. He retired from NASA six months later to help with Giffords’ recovery.

For those tracking the 2028 horse race, Kelly is worth watching because he seems to have national momentum. The questions are: Can he appeal to Democratic primary voters across the country? How far left will “prominent centrist” Kelly need to shift to secure the Democratic nomination? Can he effectively position himself as the strongest general election candidate, attracting independents and Republicans tired of JD Vance and MAGA chaos?

However, Kelly’s 51 percent margin of victory in his 2022 Arizona Senate race does not bode well. Still, his life story and political experience are well-suited for a divided nation in a perilous world that could become even more so by 2028. With his nerves of steel, the American people might elect a true warrior as president — a Navy fighter pilot and space shuttle commander who, for decades, faced the most extreme, life-threatening situations, including his wife’s near-fatal head wound.

Curious about Kelly’s presidential viability, I asked political expert Mark Halperin, editor-in-chief of the live interactive video platform 2WAY. He answered, “A compelling bio is neither destiny nor everything when it comes to being a strong presidential candidate, but it is a prerequisite. Add in Kelly's battleground state bona fides and the fact that nothing more screams ‘electable’ than ‘astronaut,’ and I wouldn't count him out in what remains an apparently weak field."

The next presidential election could be a dramatic swing from President Trump’s policies amid economic distress, with over half of Americans believing he “needs to be reined in before he destroys American democracy.”

If Kelly fights for and wins the Democratic presidential nomination, a showdown with (presumably) Vice President JD Vance would be an epic battle of machismo to “save America” from the opposite party.

Myra Adams is a political and religious opinion writer who served on the creative team of two Republican presidential campaigns in 2004 and 2008.