PHOENIX — Hours before Sen. John McCain died on Saturday, a Republican seeking Arizona’s other U.S. Senate seat suggested that his family’s earlier announcement that he was ending cancer treatment had been timed to hurt her campaign.
Former State Sen. Kelli Ward, who lost a primary to McCain running from the right in 2016 and is now trying to win the GOP nomination for retiring Sen. Jeff Flake’s seat, made the suggestion in response to a Facebook post by a campaign aide.
According to screenshots of the conversation posted on Twitter by Arizona political reporters, the aide, Jonathan Williams, wondered if it was “just a coincidence” that the announcement of McCain ending medical treatment came the day Ward was launching a statewide bus tour, her big push before Tuesday’s primary.
Ward replied: “I think they wanted to have a particular narrative that is negative to me.” – READ MORE
[divider][/divider]Arizona Republican Gov. Doug Ducey is tasked with appointing a Republican to replace Sen. John McCain, who served in the Senate for 32 years and passed away Saturday.
Some speculate that McCain’s wife, Cindy, may be a possible replacement, although conservatives from the base are pressuring Ducey, who will go up for reelection himself in November, to appoint someone who is loyal to President Donald Trump to fill the vacant seat, according to reports by The Wall Street Journal.
The replacement, who will be selected by gubernatorial appointment under Arizona state law, must be a member of McCain’s party, and will fill the vacant seat for the next two years, until a special election in 2020 can determine who will complete the remainder of McCain’s term in the Senate. The seat will be up for reelection for a complete six-year term in 2022.
Other potential appointees include Kirk Adams, Ducey’s chief of staff; Barbara Barrett, former gubernatorial candidate and wife of retired Intel Corp. Chief Executive Craig Barrett; Karrin Taylor Robson, who was appointed to the Arizona Board of Regents by Ducey in 2017; and Eileen Klein, who was appointed as state treasurer by the governor in 2018, according to the Arizona Central.- READ MORE
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