Posted on 08/26/2018 7:17:11 PM PDT by yesthatjallen
For more than a year, Cindy McCain kept Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey (R) and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) updated on her husband's valiant battle against brain cancer.
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) ended that final battle on Saturday, passing away just four days before his 82nd birthday, 32 years after winning his first term in the Senate.
Now it falls to Ducey to choose McCain's successor. The first-term governor has already begun considering a list of potential replacements, according to four Republicans either familiar with Ducey's thinking or close to those who have been involved in initial discussions.
But Ducey, both conscious of McCain's status as one of the nation's most respected statesmen and war heroes and nervous about his own reelection bid this November, has squelched speculation about who might inherit McCain's seat.
A spokesman in Ducey's office declined to comment. None of the Republicans familiar with Ducey's thinking agreed to speak on the record, in order to detail private and sensitive conversations.
Most speculation focused on three potential candidates: Maj. Gen. Michael McGuire, the director of the Arizona Department of Emergency and Military Affairs and the adjutant general of the state's Army and Air National Guards; Karrin Taylor Robson, a wealthy businesswoman whom Ducey appointed to the state Board of Regents in 2017; and Kirk Adams, a former state House Speaker who is now Ducey's chief of staff.
Several sources also pointed to former Sen. Jon Kyl (R), McCain's longtime seatmate who is now shepherding Judge Brett Kavanaugh's nomination to the Supreme Court, and former Rep. John Shadegg (R), who left Congress in 2011.
The New York Times on Sunday added state Treasurer Eileen Klein (R) and Barbara Barrett, a former ambassador to Finland under President George W. Bush.
Ducey is said to be acutely aware of what Arizona's conservative activists -- those who most closely follow and approve of President Trump -- are thinking. Ducey needs those voters for his own reelection bid, and he is likely to consider his own political future, one that would benefit from a close relationship with Trump. Ducey is already close with Vice President Pence.
Those relationships mean that other potential Senate candidates once thought to be under consideration have fallen victim to political circumstance.
Cindy McCain, who may have served as a caretaker of her husband's seat, is no longer seen as a potential appointee. Grant Woods, John McCain's first congressional chief of staff and a candidate long seen as McCain's choice to take his seat, endorsed Hillary Clinton in 2016, likely making him a nonstarter with the White House.
Several potential candidates who began jockeying for an appointment late last year were so public about their ostensibly private bids that they effectively played themselves out of contention. In a radio interview last year, Ducey said those who were "openly lobbying for this position, they've basically disqualified themselves by showing their true character."
Republicans close to Ducey interpreted his remarks as chin music meant for Rep. Paul Gosar (R), former Rep. Matt Salmon (R) and former state Sen. Kelli Ward (R).
Gosar, a hyper-conservative member of the House Freedom Caucus, is almost certainly a nonstarter, even before his overt campaigning for the seat angered Ducey. Salmon, now the chief lobbyist for Arizona State University, was seen as indelicate in sending out feelers about the possibility of winning the appointment. And Ward is likely to lose Tuesday's Republican primary to replace retiring Sen. Jeff Flake (R) to a more establishment rival, making her appointment unlikely.
Whomever Ducey chooses to replace McCain will serve in the Senate until 2020, when Arizona voters will choose someone to fill the two remaining years of the term McCain won in 2016.
Ducey said Saturday he would wait until McCain is buried before he names a successor. McCain will lie in state in both the Arizona and the U.S. Capitol, before he is buried at the U.S. Naval Academy's cemetery in Annapolis, Md.
Vote LS for the next Senator of Arizona!
You got my vote ;-)
Governor Ducey is a very careful man. He does nothing that will come back to haunt him. He is probably the best pure politician I have ever met. And a really nice guy. I am proud to call him my friend.
Im an Arizonan and I voted for Ward against McCain and vote for Ward tomorrow. Its the state GOP that gives us RINOS in the general elections. They also stomp on anyone who tries to go up against them.
Agreed. Congress needs to monitor its own and demand the resignation of those with medical or psychological issues that would interfere with their performance.
Anyone with a terminal illness should be focused on their personal health and maximizing time with their family and best friends.
McCain has a mother- Roberta age 106
Cindy & 7 kids and some grandkids and siblings
How selfish he was to have any limitations on the time he spends with them.
How selfish he was to be undergoing treatment for brain cancer and believing that the tumor itself or the treatment would not impair his decision making.
How selfish he was to himself to not spend this precious time focused on his health and well-being.
His ego superseded his common sense.
We would love that.
Kelli made a dozen major errors. I won’t list them here, but I had joined her team as an unofficial advisor back in Oct. 2016, and sadly little of my advice was taken.
She had a window in 2017 to nail down the nomination and exclude others, but couldn’t reel it in.
My guess is that he was on life support for some time and the “decision to end medical treatment” last week really only amounted to pulling the plug.
I just looked up the Arizona Election Code and procedures manual.
Since this is a primary, it looks like the best of all worlds would be for the Governor to appoint the winner to fill McCain's term. This has the advantage of ensuring that person at least two years in the Senate instead of taking the gamble of the general election. Then, with the vacancy in the general election caused by loss of the primary winner, the party may select a replacement candidate. This could easily be the runner-up in the primary.
-PJ
Not gonna happen.
1) McSally will win by 20. Ducey no fan of Ward.
2) It would be a nuke bomb to name primary loser (Ward) to a seat then have the winner lose in the general and not have a seat. Ducey isn’t stupid.
3) I’m voting Ward on Tues, but it would be an insult to the voters to put in place someone who was rejected by the majority GOP for the nomination. Just won’t fly.
As long as he is still dead.
My guess too, since it fits the "helping Ducey" criteria, and Adams has some gravitas as a former Speaker of the House.
I’ll let Dougie know that you are shy but available.
LOL.
I guarantee that in 2020 I’d win reelection with 60% based on my votes and support for Trump.
This post confirms you chose the right Freeper name.
I agree, but Adams may not have the current status of an “elected official” that would make it seem kosher. I dunno.
My thoughts too.
McCain regarded his seat in the senate as his own personal possession, something he would own until death and then pass along to an heir of his choice.
Narcissistic and selfish to the very bitter end.....
The left was banking on the widow angle, no one could oppose Cindy because she lost her husband. I think that’s why we’ve had the 24/7 McCain was God narrative, the left wants to keep his seat.
He’s been dying forever. Are you telling me there isn’t a new Senator already chosen? Right.....
Isnt Sarah Palin a resident of Arizona?
That would be a lovely slap in the face to loser McCain - lol!
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