Jon Kyl, Longtime Arizona Senator and Former GOP Whip, Dies at 84

Former U.S. Sen. Jon Kyl of Arizona, a longtime Republican lawmaker who rose to become the Senate GOP whip, has died at the age of 84, his family announced Thursday. (

Kyl represented Arizona in Congress for nearly three decades. He served in the U.S. House from 1987 to 1995 before winning election to the Senate, where he served from 1995 until 2013. He was the Republican Senate whip from 2007 to 2013.

He briefly returned to the Senate in 2018, when then-Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey appointed him to fill the vacancy created by the death of Sen. John McCain.

Kyl’s family said he died from complications of a neurological disease. He had announced in late 2025 that he was withdrawing from public life after being diagnosed with a neurological condition that manifested as dementia.

Tributes from Arizona political figures followed news of his death, remembering his decades of public service and influence in the state and in Washington.