The Arizona Republican Party will vote to censure Cindy McCain, the wife of late Arizona Sen. John McCain, after she endorsed Joe Biden for president.
The announcement comes after Maricopa County Republicans voted to censure former Sen. Jeff Flake, a vocal critic of President Trump who declined to run for reelection in 2018 and also endorsed Biden.
A meeting attendee proposed adding McCain’s name to the censure of Flake, but the amendment failed because resolutions cannot be amended from the floor. The Maricopa County Republican Committee voted overwhelmingly to censure Flake, in a 1,190-to-291 vote.
The Arizona GOP later tweeted that it will vote to censure McCain on Jan. 23.
After further review, it appears the @MaricopaGOP did not formally censure Cindy McCain. There was a call, a second, and near unanimous cheering/approval – but resolutions can’t be amended from the floor. The @AZGOP will vote on a “Censure McCain” resolution on Jan 23. Thank you!
— Arizona Republican Party (@AZGOP) January 10, 2021
In response to erroneous reports that she was censured by the local party, McCain said she was a “proud lifelong Republican and will continue to support candidates who put country over party and stand for the rule of law.”
I am a proud lifelong Republican and will continue to support candidates who put country over party and stand for the rule of law. https://t.co/iTVj0pibOm
— Cindy McCain (@cindymccain) January 9, 2021
McCain’s daughter, Meghan, sarcastically tweeted “how will [Cindy McCain] ever survive such a thing?!?”
Oh how will she ever survive such a thing?!??
And this is THE REAL problem facing the Arizona GOP, my mom! A few days after a domestic terror attack led by maniac Trump supporters. https://t.co/Gmoyq8DeSX
— Meghan McCain (@MeghanMcCain) January 9, 2021
The McCain-Trump feud dates back years. The president famously said John McCain, who spent years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam, was not a “war hero,” adding that he likes “people that weren’t captured.”
In 2019, Cindy McCain said Trump’s presidency had changed the Republican Party, and it is no longer the “party that my husband and I belonged to.”
“The inability to even discuss issues — differing issues — it’s degenerated into name-calling and Twitter responses, and all of these things that not only do they not help the argument, but they don’t help foster good relationships with people,” McCain said in a thinly-veiled reference to the president’s proclivity for nicknames and Twitter spats.
