Jon Kyl, a former Republican congressman and senator from Arizona who served 26 years on Capitol Hill, died at his home in Phoenix at age 84. His family attributed the death to complications from a neurological disease; he had announced a dementia diagnosis in December 2025.

After four terms in the U.S. House, Mr. Kyl won election to the Senate in 1994. During three terms, he rose to party whip behind minority leader Mitch Mc Connell of Kentucky. Time magazine called him "the Operator" and one of the 10 best senators in 2006, noting legislation lived or died by his invisible hand.

In 2000, Dick Cheney interviewed him as a potential running mate for George W. Bush. Mr. Kyl focused on arms control, immigration, and water rights. He held a lifetime voting score of 96.6 from the American Conservative Union but was pragmatic, playing critical roles in the 2013 Bush-era tax cut extension and 2007 immigration reform efforts.

"You can accomplish a lot if you're not necessarily out in front on everything," he once said. He served as junior senator beside John Mc Cain.