Martha Elizabeth McSally (born March 22, 1966) is an American politician and former military pilot who served as a United States senator for Arizona from 2019 to 2020. A member of the Republican Party, she served as the U.S. representative for Arizona's 2nd congressional district from 2015 to 2019. McSally served in the United States Air Force from 1988 to 2010, achieving the rank of Colonel. She is the first U.S. woman to fly in combat and also the first to command a fighter squadron. In 2001, McSally successfully sued the United States Department of Defense in McSally v. Rumsfeld, challenging the military policy that required U.S. and UK servicewomen stationed in Saudi Arabia to wear the body-covering abaya when traveling off base in the country. Following an unsuccessful bid in 2012, McSally was elected to the House of Representatives in 2014 and served two terms. McSally was the Republican nominee in Arizona's 2018 U.S. Senate election, losing to Democrat Kyrsten Sinema. After interim Senator Jon Kyl resigned from the state's other Senate seat, to which he was appointed following the death of John McCain, Governor Doug Ducey appointed McSally to replace Kyl. In 2020 there was a special election coinciding with the general elections to determine whether McSally would serve the remainder of McCain's Senate term. She lost the election to the Democratic nominee Mark Kelly, a former astronaut and husband of former congresswoman Gabby Giffords. President Donald Trump endorsed McSally in her 2018 Senate campaign. She opposes same-sex marriage and abortion in "nearly all cases", saying both issues should be decided at the state level. She advocates increased military spending. She opposed and voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act, while supporting the unsuccessful American Health Care Act of 2017. Though criticizing Obama's use of executive action to create it, she supported Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals until 2018, and expressed concern about Trump's travel ban and the family separation policy. Early life and education McSally was born in 1966 in Warwick, Rhode Island, the youngest of five children. When McSally was 12, her lawyer father, Bernard, died suddenly due to a massive heart attack. Her mother, Eleanor (Taft), worked as a reading specialist to support the family. McSally was the valedictorian at St. Mary Academy – Bay View in 1984. During an interview with The Wall Street Journal in April 2018, McSally alleged her track and field