Arizona Gov. Greg Ducey (R), who is tasked with replacing the late Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), wants the senator’s wife Cindy to approve the person he chooses to fill the seat, according to a Tuesday Politico report.
Though Cindy McCain herself has been speculated to be a possible replacement, she has reportedly not expressed any desire to serve out her husband’s term.
But, as Ducey tries to walk the line between appeasing the Trump fanatics in his base as well as the moderates who gave McCain six straight terms in office, he reportedly wants the family’s approval to make the replacement as respectful and unifying as possible. Ducey is also headed for a tough reelection battle in the fall, and is seeking a smooth replacement process.
Cindy McCain reportedly does not see herself as a political person, and uses her time to run family businesses.
And as Reed Galen, McCain’s deputy campaign manager in 2008, told Politico, as someone who has been by her husband’s side for years and witnessed up close the nastiness of politics under President Donald Trump, Cindy McCain may be feeling little desire to join the fray.
“Given the political world as it is today, why go do this?” Galen said. “Not because it wouldn’t be a good tribute to her husband, but is that, A) the right reason to do it? and B) given the ugliness that we’ve seen around McCain’s passing, why would anyone in their right mind subject themselves to that?”
