WASHINGTON – Cindy McCain, widow of Arizona Senator John McCain, will run for president on Tuesday.
Ms. who spoke in a video at the Democratic convention last month. McCain said in a telephone interview that she was unsure of what role she would play in public in this year’s campaign. But after reading reports this month of Mr. Trump denouncing members of the military, she said she became “increasingly frustrated” with the president.
Referring to an article in the Atlantic, Mrs. McCain said, “The most important thing that made me a big deal was talking about the soldiers being ‘lost’.” “You know we have children in our army, just like Bidens.”
He added, “I want my president to have his back, and I don’t think that’s the case right now.”
McCain’s two sons, Jack and James, both served in the armed forces, and Mr. Biden’s son Beau served in the National Guard, including a tour of duty in Iraq. Bau Biden died in 2015 of brain cancer.
Ms. McCain said she plans to actively help Mr. Biden and participate in virtual campaign events and join him when he appears in Arizona, which is seen as a swing state this year.
Her support for the former vice president, who introduced her to Mr. McCain on a trip to a congressional delegation, was not surprising given her husband’s frequent feud with Mr. Trump. However, Mrs. McCain’s outspoken support and her willingness to take the stumps in favor of Mr. Biden showed that Mr. Trump’s disregard for veterans, which he denies, stings military families.
Some of those reports, including the original Atlantic revelation, also detailed Mr. Trump’s hatred of Mr. McCain. After Mr. McCain’s death in 2018, citing strangers, the magazine reported that Mr. Trump was furious to see that the national flag was on half the staff, saying, “We will not support the funeral of that loser.”
Asked if Mr. Trump’s response to Mr. Biden’s support was taken into account, Ms. McCain said he would only laugh if the president attacked him in one of his “5am” tweets.
Her hometown may be most affected in Arizona, where her family has long owned a beer distributorship and which Mr. McCuck introduced to Congress for 35 years.
Mr. Biden is competing more aggressively in the state than any other current Democratic presidential candidate and has led in every respectable vote in the state, which has not endorsed a Democratic candidate for the presidency since 1996. The former vice president is now enjoying public support, including former Senator Jeff Flack and former Rep. Jim Colby, who has long represented the state in Congress, and an array of current and former Arizona Republicans, including one-time state attorney general Grant Woods.
If Arizona turns around this year, it will complicate Mr. Trump’s election map, which he briefly carried out four years ago in view of his current difficulties in the narrow industrial Midwestern states.
Democrats could also take a Senate seat in Arizona that Mr. McCain has long held and now has Senator Martha Malley Casley, who was appointed in his place.
Mrs. Maxley has sought support from the Arizona Republican Party’s more moderate McCain wing and Mr. Trump’s staunch supporters. But Mr. McCain’s refusal to defend his voice more vocally in the face of Mr. Trump’s onslaught, which he also maintained in recent weeks, has angered the McCain family.
Ms. McKay was asked if he was Ms. Will support Maxley who consistently voted behind Democratic challenger Mark Kelly in democracy. “I have no interest in it,” he said.
