Sen. John McCain, R.-Ariz., allowed that Donald Trump’s rise in the Republican primaries — and the “frustration with Washington” behind it — could complicate his own path to re-election this year.
“I have to believe that it does; that’s why I’m not taking anything for granted,” McCain told reporters outside the Senate chamber on Thursday. “I never have, but I’m working extremely hard. It’s going to affect everybody that’s running for re-election.”
That warning is a twist on the more pervasive concern that Trump would hurt congressional Republicans by alienating swing voters in a general election. McCain pointed to “gridlock” as one of the causes of voter anger, but he conceded that congressional productivity can’t provide a quick fix, either.
McCain traced most of Trump’s appeal back to concern about a stagnant economy.
“I think it’s a whole lot of issues but one of them is frustration with Washington,” he said. “Millions of Americans have not seen any improvement in their lives in the last several years; that obviously makes them frustrated with government.”
Democratic Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick, who is McCain’s likely general election opponent this year, could have trouble capitalizing on that frustration, though. She took office with President Obama and voted for Obamacare in 2010, before losing her first re-election bid (she ran again and won in 2012). She trailed McCain 51 percent to 36 percent in a December survey of the race.
The national security crises that helped Republicans to break the Senate Democrats’ hold on the upper chamber in 2014 also have contributed to Trump’s campaign against Republican leadership.
“Right now, many Americans are afraid that there is going to be another attack on this country,” McCain said. “They know the responsibility is on government to protect them; they don’t believe they’re being protected.”
The 2008 Republican presidential nominee didn’t say if there was anything specifically that GOP leaders could have done differently to prevent voters’ hearts from inclining toward Trump.
“I think we can do what we just did: a highway bill, a balanced budget, a reform of education, a defense authorization bill that was good — I think we’ve done a lot of things, but for a long time that wasn’t the case when we were gridlocked with the Democrats,” McCain said. “It takes awhile . . .You can’t turn an oil tanker around in 50 yards.”
