John McCain's Family Takes a Shot at Likely Replacement for His Senate Seat
Rumors that Republican Rep. Martha McSally could be appointed to fill the vacant seat of the late Sen. John McCain of Arizona drew a negative response from some members of the McCain clan.
“McSally strikes me as an unwise choice for a number of reasons,” Ben Domenech, the husband of McCain’s daughter, Meghan, tweeted Friday.
“She’s like an NFL team that plays down to its opponents’ level – and she’ll be tasked with running for re-election immediately.”
McSally strikes me as an unwise choice for a number of reasons. She’s like an NFL team that plays down to its opponents’ level – and she’ll be tasked with running for re-election immediately. https://t.co/C01s2sL28e
— Ben Domenech (@bdomenech) December 14, 2018
The tweet came after CNN, citing sources it did not name, said Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey might pick McSally to replace Sen. Jon Kyl, who was appointed to fill McCain’s seat after McCain’s death in September, but has said he is stepping down. During her military service, McSally was first American woman to fly in combat.
McSally last month lost a hard-fought Senate contest to Democratic Rep. Kyrsten Sinema. Sinema won the seat now held by retiring Republican Jeff Flake.
In what appeared to be an effort to bolster her standing in the McCain family, McSally met with the senator’s widow, Cindy McCain, on Friday, the Arizona Republic reported, citing sources it did not name.
The report said that McSally apologized for not mentioning the senator’s name during President Donald Trump’s signing of the John S. McCain National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal 2019.
At the time, McSally’s actions won her a harsh Twitter rebuke from Meghan McCain.
“.@RepMcSally’s inability to even mention my father’s name when discussing the bill named in his honor is disgraceful (just as it was with Trump) – I had such higher hopes for the next generation of leadership in my home state,” she wrote then.
.@RepMcSally ‘s inability to even mention my father’s name when discussing the bill named in his honor is disgraceful (just as it was with Trump) – I had such higher hopes for the next generation of leadership in my home state. https://t.co/MC1qpDS2na
— Meghan McCain (@MeghanMcCain) August 16, 2018
The sources told the Republic that during Saturday’s meeting, Cindy McCain “expressed her appreciation for the apology and conveyed the importance of her late husband’s legacy and his service to Arizona.”
Some Republicans were critical of the McCain family’s opposition to McSally.
The McCain family actively helped Sinema defeat McSally. Now this! No McSally for McCain seat! Time for the McCain family to go back to their McMansion and order some McNuggets from McDonald’s and leave McSally alone ! I’m NOT lovin’ it! https://t.co/oFZ7s0yuZq
— Ray Bell (@RayBellSD) December 15, 2018
A report Thursday in The Washington Post said that Ducey’s enthusiasm for appointing McSally may have flagged, but also noted that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is seeking to boost the number of Republican women in the Senate.
The report said that a post-election memo from McSally’s staff was ill-received in Republican circles because it appeared to avoid taking blame for the loss to Sinema
“There is momentum building for an anybody-but-McSally appointment among the Arizona donor community,” Dan Eberhart, an Arizona-based oil industry executive, told the newspaper.
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