Former Republican Sen. Jon Kyl has died.

On Thursday, his family announced that the longtime Arizona politician passed away due to complications resulting from neurological disease that manifested as dementia.

He was 84 years old.

Back in December, Kyl said that he would be withdrawing from public life following his heartbreaking diagnosis.

Local news outlet KTAR shared a statement from Kyl’s family:

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The family said Kyl died due to complications from a neurological disease and released the following statement:

“We know that Jon belonged to all of Arizona, a state he loved and explored with vigor, curiosity and wonder. Serving his state and nation in Congress was a privilege and responsibility he honored and respected. We are grateful for his full and meaningful public life.

We are grateful, too, for his full and meaningful family life, guided by his faith and endowed with honor, warmth and love. We cherish his presence in our lives and are thankful he has joined his beloved Creator, Jesus Christ.”

Information about memorial services will be announced at a later time.

In December 2025, Kyl announced that he was withdrawing from public life after being diagnosed with a neurological disease that manifested as dementia.

“My family and I now head down a path filled with moments of joy and increasing difficulties. I am grateful beyond expression for their love and support, in these coming days as in all the days of my life,” he said in a statement at the time.

Until then, he remained active in public life, serving as an often-cited expert on the Constitution.

About a year before his diagnosis, he discussed his legacy on the Amazing Arizonans podcast.

“The thing I enjoyed most about my public service, in addition to helping to make good policy for the country, was helping to teach people about our government, why it’s important for them to participate in it,” he said during the Jan. 15, 2025, episode.

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Jon Kyl was an absolute workhorse and patriot.

He was a well-known and beloved politician among his constituents and colleagues.

Overall, he spent nearly three decades in Congress – in both the House and Senate.

He served in the House of Representatives from 1987 to 1995.

After that, he served in the Senate from 1995 to 2013.

Following Sen. John McCain’s passing in 2018, he also made a brief return to the Senate to fill the vacant seat.

CBS News has more on this lengthy career:

Kyl rose to a leadership position during his last full term in the Senate, when his Republican colleagues selected him as minority whip. After he retired from politics in 2013 and became a lobbyist, Kyl returned to Congress briefly in 2018, when Ducey appointed him to fill the vacancy left by the late U.S. Sen. John McCain.

His appointment drew high praise from Trump, who said he was looking forward to working with “the extraordinary senator.” Kyl stayed for less than four months before rejoining lobbying firm Covington and Burling.

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“At the federal level, and I regret to say that this is the case, but probably a lot of my better achievements were in preventing bad things from happening (rather) than forcing good things to happen,” Kyl said in a 2012 conversation with former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor.

Kyl was born in Oakland, Nebraska, on April 25, 1942, and grew up in a rural farming district in Iowa that his father represented in the U.S. House. At 18, he left the state to attend the University of Arizona, where he met his wife, Caryll, and earned a law degree.

Before he was elected in 1987 for the first of four terms in the House, Kyl was a key participant in shaping Arizona’s 1980 groundwater code as a lawyer representing a large water utility. The first-of-its-kind code created a regulatory framework for managing groundwater in the drought-stricken state, largely centering on the state’s population centers, including Phoenix and Tucson.

In 2004, Kyl authored legislation that provided one of the largest tribal water rights settlements, which, after a decades-long battle, gave the Gila River Indian Community enough water to fill nearly 313,500 Olympic-sized swimming pools annually. Republican U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who later served as majority leader, called Kyl’s work ethic “legendary” in a 2012 floor speech and said Kyl had labored mostly behind the scenes for 15 years to advance the settlement.

“It was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done, but I was in a position to be the catalyst,” Kyl told the Phoenix New Times in a 2006 interview. “There wasn’t anybody else who could do that water deal. And it had to be done.”

Arizona State University’s Kyl Center for Water Policy is named for him. Its director, Sarah Porter, said Kyl was generous with his time and was an effective member of the state’s congressional delegation who took a practical approach to water policy.

“He’s always sort of cared about the public good and been able to think about, ‘What will this mean for the generations to come?’” Porter said, adding that Kyl remained “quite a dynamo” until recent years, as his wife battled health problems.

Ducey said Kyl was a “giant” in the Senate, describing him as serious, engaging, forthright and thoughtful. His biggest impacts, Ducey said, came from the way he kept the Republican caucus together in opposition to Obamacare and his staunch support of Israel.

Kyl also backed legislation to authorize construction of a fence stretching hundreds of miles along the U.S.-Mexico border. He later joined with Democrats to support a bill that would provide a path to citizenship and temporary guest-worker status for those in the U.S. without authorization. The proposal ultimately failed.

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As a lobbyist, Kyl helped guide the confirmation of Trump-picked U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. When Kyl returned to the halls of Congress in 2018, he was known as Kavanaugh’s chief Sherpa — an informal but widely known term for a nominee’s guide to the political tundra in the Senate.

Tributes are pouring in to honor the legacy of Sen. Jon Kyl.

Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey had this to say:

Several Senators and Congressmen responded to Kyl’s passing, as well:

Even the Arizona Cardinals released a statement on Sen. Kyl’s passing:

Rest in peace.

Please keep Jon Kyl’s family in your prayers in their time of grief.

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This is a Guest Post from our friends over at WLTReport. View the original article here.

 

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