Jon Kyl heads to K Street

Jon Kyl, the former No. 2 Republican in the Senate, has decamped for K Street with a job at Covington & Burling.

Kyl, a three-term senator from Arizona who did not seek reelection last year, will join the law and lobby firm’s public policy and government affairs practice, advising companies on a range of issues. 

“Senator Kyl is widely respected on both sides of the aisle for his superb judgment, the breadth of his policy expertise, and his ability to forge win-win solutions on even the most complex and challenging issues,” Dan Bryant, who recently left PepsiCo to oversee Covington’s public policy practice in Washington and Brussels, said in a statement.

{mosads}Competition for Kyl’s services on K Street was likely fierce, as headhunters had placed him near the top of the retiring class for the last Congress. Kyl’s policy expertise and service in GOP leadership made him an appealing hire for major firms.   

Kyl served on both the Finance and Judiciary panels while in the Senate, and will advise Covington’s clients on tax, healthcare, defense and intellectual property issues.

During his time on Capitol Hill, Kyl was known to take a hard line on fiscal issues, and served on the supercommittee and other groups that were unable to reach a deal on tax-and-spending issues.

As an Arizona senator, Kyl also took a deep interest in immigration policy, which is again becoming a big-ticket issue on Capitol Hill. In addition, policymakers on both sides of the aisle are hoping to broadly overhaul the tax code.

Arizona’s two current Republican senators, John McCain and Jeff Flake, are part of a bipartisan group of eight senators currently working on an immigration plan.

Because he’s a former senator, Kyl cannot lobby the Senate for two years. In addition to his work at Covington, Kyl will also be a visiting fellow at the conservative American Enterprise Institute.