Former Arizona senator Jon Kyl, longtime Republican workhorse who shaped water policy and battled neurological disorder, dies at 84

From the Newshound archive · first published 19 September 2026.

Jon Kyl died Wednesday night in Phoenix from a neurological disorder after withdrawing from public life in December 2025 following a dementia diagnosis. The veteran Republican served nearly three decades in Congress, rising to Senate minority whip, and was praised by former Arizona Governor Doug Ducey as a Washington "workhorse" who preferred reading legislation in coach class to the limelight.

Kyl guided the Senate confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh and was briefly reappointed in 2018 to fill the seat of the late John McCain.

Trump hailed him at the time as 'the extraordinary senator', and Ducey credited Kyl's biggest legacy to holding Republicans together against Obamacare and his staunch support of Israel.

Kyl once said his finest federal achievements were 'preventing bad things from happening rather than forcing good things to happen' — a line his admirers called trademark understatement.