The late Sen. John McCain got a round of applause at the Democratic presidential debate.
Sen. Kamala Harris evoked the Republican “maverick” while discussing the partisan fight over healthcare, particularly how he helped kill a plan to repeal and replace Obamacare supported by President Trump in the summer of 2017.
“Let’s talk about the fact that Donald Trump came into office and spent almost the entire first year of his term trying to get rid of the Affordable Care Act,” she said Thursday evening.
“We all fought against it and then the late, great John McCain, at that moment at about 2 in the morning, killed his attempt to take healthcare from millions of people in this country,” the California Democrat added as applause broke out in the Houston audience.
Harris then warned that if Trump is not tossed out of office by voters, he will successfully destroy all the tenets of former President Barack Obama’s signature healthcare plan.
McCain’s daughter, Meghan McCain, expressed her excitement at the mention of her late father, who died August 2018 from brain cancer.
SHOUTOUT TO MY DAD!!!!! #DemDebate
— Meghan McCain (@MeghanMcCain) September 13, 2019
Harris had previously spoken out against the Arizona senator when, during the 2017 confirmation hearings of then-attorney general nominee Jeff Sessions, she was interrupted and asked to allow Sessions to fully answer her questions. McCain insisted that Harris allow the nominee to fully answer her questions before she again interrupted.
Harris used the incident to raise money for Act Blue, a large fundraising platform that supports Democratic candidates, a day later saying on Twitter, “The women of the United States Senate will not be silenced when seeking the truth. Fight back.”
