I wouldn't say sexy. But I'll say this about Kelly;
Mark Kelly is the embodiment of everything that Conservative America thinks it stands for. When white christian families tuck their kids into the bed at night and tell them about people they should be looking up to and idolizing, it's Kelly. War Hero, Fighter Pilot, Astronaut from a family of cops.
The twist that he's a democrat and believes in everything they in reality hate will break MAGA's fucking brain, and (I think) bring in a lot of what I can "non-republican conservatives"; ie, people who are among the 40% of Americans who don't vote because, while they live a christian-conservative lifestyle, they don't necessarily believe in the Republican bullshit.
I can respect that kind of conservativism. I don't really agree with it anymore, but I can at least respect it. I don't really think it's a good idea to nominate anyone but Harris for the presidential role, but Kelly would probably stomp, if we lived in a slightly less cursed timeline.
In a previous thread a while back I got curb-stomped for daring to suggest that there were conservatives that weren't "republicans"; that there were in fact conservatives who maybe don't believe in things like gay marriage, etc..., who go to church, wait for marriage, and all that; But who ALSO don't actually give two shits about what other people do with their lives and don't really want to push their beliefs around. They just want to live their lives and let everyone else live there.
My suggestion that these people exist and that it's likely that these people don't vote was met with being told that ALL conservatives are bad regardless of whether they register as republicans or not.
I live in an area of Canada that is surrounded by exactly those type of people. They aren't liberal minded, they don't believe in a lot of those things, but when asked if they should force those beliefs on others through government action they'd all say fuck no. Live and let live.
But apparently I'm naive (according to that other thread)
Not only do those people exist but it's a huge part of the population. Some of these people will vote Republican, some of them will vote Democrat.
But the situation down here has evolved to a level of tribalism that there's no easy recovery from. You're expected to be on a team, and if you're not on my team, regardless of how similar our teams may be, fuck you.
Mark is barely an astronaut compared to his twin brother, who has 10x the spaceflight time and actual EVA hours.
Still, I'd love to see a democratic astronaut on the ticket. Someone with affinity for science and earths delicate balance, while also a remarkable military history.