PHOENIX (AP) — Jimmy McCain, son of former Arizona senator and 2008 Republican presidential nominee John McCain, said this week that he has registered as a Democrat and will vote for Vice President Kamala Harris, a valuable show of support for the Democratic candidate in a state where the outcome remains uncertain.
Meanwhile, Trump’s running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio, is scheduled to appear outside Phoenix on Wednesday at a rally with the conservative youth organization Turning Point USA, which played a key role in reshaping the Arizona GOP as a loyalist of former President Donald Trump’s “Make America great again” movement.
Jimmy McCain’s endorsement and Vance’s appearance at Turning Point USA reflect the different segments of the GOP that Harris and Trump are trying to reach. Democrats are appealing to traditional conservatives disillusioned by Trump’s takeover of the GOP, while Republicans are looking to galvanize their base and turn out their young supporters.
Jimmy McCain said he was an independent since leaving the Republican Party after Trump became the standard-bearer in 2016. He decided to switch his registration to Democratic and make it public during a nine-month overseas deployment that just ended. His decision was first reported by CNN.
He said he was even more “excited” by the decision after watching Trump’s campaign visit to Arlington National Cemetery, a visit Harris described as a “political stunt” that “disrespected sacred ground.”
Trump has had a tense relationship with the McCain family since he discredited the senator’s status as a war hero during his 2016 campaign.
Jimmy McCain said he personally found it difficult to hear his father disrespect him, but he also said his father chose a public life and that Americans are allowed to criticize their leaders.
“At Arlington, the people who are buried there gave their lives and the ultimate sacrifice,” McCain said. “They don’t get a political opinion. … We don’t know what those people felt, what they thought, what they believed. We know they believed in their country and that’s about it.”
Trump said he was invited to Arlington by the families of Marines killed in a suicide bombing during the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. His campaign released statements from the families accusing Harris of playing politics with the issue.
Jimmy McCain, 36, enlisted in the U.S. Marines as a teenager and served for four years. He re-enlisted in the Army National Guard and was later commissioned as an officer, currently holding the rank of 1st lieutenant.
Ideologically, McCain said he is a moderate, referring back to his father’s 2008 campaign slogan: “Country first.”
“I’m a center-level guy who cares about his country more than anything else,” McCain said.
Cindy McCain, the late senator’s widow, endorsed President Joe Biden shortly before the 2020 election, a vote of confidence that helped the Democrat win a narrow victory in Arizona with support from Republicans dissatisfied with Trump. Biden appointed McCain U.S. ambassador to the United Nations food and agriculture agencies in Rome, where she is now executive director of the U.N. World Food Programme.
John McCain, a Navy pilot, was shot down over North Vietnam in 1967. He was captured, beaten, and held captive for more than five years. He refused to be released before other American servicemen.
Trump said of McCain, “He’s not a war hero. He was a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured.” McCain later angered Trump with his dramatic rejection of Obama’s health care law repeal.
McCain represented Arizona in Congress for 31 years until his death in 2018 from an aggressive brain tumor, building a national reputation as a “maverick” willing to thwart his party. Though he sometimes drew criticism from the GOP base and faced fierce primary challengers, he was re-elected overwhelmingly and remains a beloved figure in the state.
