US Sen. Jon Kyl will not say whether he will stay in Congress past January

PHOENIX — U.S. Sen. Jon Kyl would not say whether he would continue his second Congressional stint past January, but said he would revisit the topic with Gov. Doug Ducey toward the end of the year.

“We have a lot of work to do yet in the Congress. There is going to be a lame duck session, which is after the election we will have three or four weeks to get a lot more business done,” Kyl told KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Arizona’s Morning News.

“There are still some appropriation bills…some judges that have to be confirmed and a lot of other things,” he added.

“So I’ll be focused on that and I will visit with the governor toward the end of the year and we’ll have a conversation about the future and decide what to do at that time.”

Kyl, 76, was appointed to the seat by Ducey in September, after the late Sen. John McCain died in July following a yearlong battle with brain cancer.

At the time, Kyl said he did not commit to serving in the Senate seat after the end of the year and said he would not seek the seat in 2020.

Shortly after the appointment, Ducey told Mac & Gaydos that he hopes Kyl stays for two years.

Voters will decide in a 2020 special election who fills the remainder of McCain’s seat through 2022. Then the seat will be up again for a full six-year term.

But Kyl is used to the duties of the Senate: He spent three terms in the Senate, working with McCain, and was minority whip, the first Arizona politician to earn that position.

Before the Senate, Kyl spent a dozen years in the U.S. House of Representatives for Arizona.

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