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A suspect has been arrested two days after former US Senator Martha McSally reported being sexually assaulted while on a run in Iowa before fighting the man off and chasing him.

Ms McSally said she was jogging along the Missouri River on Wednesday when the assailant approached and "molested and fondled me until I fought him off".

The ex-military pilot said she ran after him but he managed to flee.

"I was in a fight, flight or freeze and I chose to fight," Ms McSally said.

Dominic Henton, 25, of Papillion, Nebraska, was taken into custody early on Friday morning by police in Omaha, Nebraska.

The suspect, who is thought to be homeless, faces a charge of assault with intent to commit sexual abuse.

Ms McSally was the nation's first female fighter pilot to serve in combat before entering politics.

In 2019, she testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee during its investigation of sexual assaults in the military.

Then-Arizona Senator McSally said a superior officer, whom she did not name, had raped her.

In a video posted to Instagram after this week's attack, Ms McSally said it had "tapped into a nerve" from past assaults.

"In this case, I felt I took my power back," she said. "He was running from me, instead of the other way around."

After serving in the US Air Force from 1988 until 2010, rising to the rank of colonel, she won two terms as a Republican in the US House.

Ms McSally was appointed in late 2018 to replace longtime Republican Senator John McCain after his death, but lost the seat to Democratic challenger Mark Kelly in 2020.