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John McCain’s Senate replacement has only one job: confirm Brett Kavanaugh.

Chip Somodevilla/Getty

On Tuesday, Arizona Governor Doug Ducey announced that Jon Kyl, a former senator who is currently a Washington lobbyist, will be the successor to the Senate seat held by the late John McCain. While Kyl is eminently qualified for the position, having represented Arizona in the Senate from 1995 to 2013, his selection seems connected to one key fact: he can be counted on to help confirm Brett Kavanaugh as a Supreme Court Justice.

As Politico notes, “Kyl has helped direct Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, through the Senate ahead of his confirmation hearings this week.” In other words, Kyl as a lobbyist helped groom Kavanaugh for the nomination process which Kyl, soon to be a senator, will vote on. Adding to the possibility that Kyl’s sole job is to help confirm Kavanaugh is that he’s only agreed to serve until the end of the year, after which Ducey might have to find a second replacement. In other words, once Kavanaugh is confirmed, Kyl could possibly quickly return to lobbying.

Right-wing columnist Ann Coulter usefully spelled out the logic of picking Kyl in tweet she issued in late August: