The Arizona Republican Party will vote on resolutions to censure Cindy McCain, former Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ), and Gov. Doug Ducey, a Republican, when it meets on January 23.
McCain, the widow of the late Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), endorsed President-elect Joe Biden over President Donald Trump in the 2020 election.
On Tuesday, Arizona Central reported the text of the draft resolution to censure and “dissolve any connections” between the Republican Party and McCain:
WHEREAS, Cindy Hensley McCain, the wife of the late Arizona US Senator John McCain, has supported leftist causes such as gay marriage, growth of the administrative state, and others that run counter to Republican values, a Republican form of government, and the US Constitution;
WHEREAS, Cindy McCain has failed to support Conservative Republican candidates such as President Trump;
WHEREAS, Cindy McCain has supported globalist policies and candidates, including Democrats such as Joe Biden, in direct opposition to Republican values, the interests of the American people, and the Constitution of the United States;
WHEREAS, Cindy McCain has condemned President Trump for his criticism of her husband and erroneously placed behaviors over actual presidential results; and
On Tuesday, Republican National Committee Chairman Ronna McDaniel issued a statement opposing the censure resolution of McCain.
“Obviously we are upset that a prominent Republican would support Joe Biden whose beliefs are the opposite of what our party stands for, but the language in this resolution is abhorrent,” McDaniel said in the statement.
“My hope is that the Arizona Republican Party will not entertain it. This does nothing to grow our party or put us in a better position to win in 2022,” McDaniel added.
12 News subsequently reported that the language of the draft censure resolution has been modified:
McDaniel was reacting to an initial draft of the McCain resolution that included inflammatory language about both Cindy McCain and her late husband, Sen. John McCain. That language was removed from the resolution that will go to a vote in two weeks.
“The chairman of the Republican Party nationally understands that the chairman of the Republican Party locally is a complete goofball,” said Grant Woods, a former Arizona attorney general and longtime McCain family friend. . .
Sen. McCain was censured by the state party in 2014. He went on to win re-election two years later, defeating current party chair Kelli Ward in the GOP primary.
“I’m not surprised by the continuous insults and personal attacks from Arizona GOP Chairman Kelli Ward . . . She’s shown how attacking Republicans like me can impact elections — her involvement in both Senate elections to replace Jeff Flake and my husband John McCain, two regular targets of her personal attacks, resulted in Democrat wins,” McCain said in a statement released to the Arizona Republic late Tuesday.
Ward is a former state legislator who ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate in Arizona and is a strong supporter of President Trump.
On Wednesday, the Wall Street Journal said resolutions addressing Flake and Ducey will also be considered at the January 23 meeting of the Arizona Republican Party.
A separate resolution to censure Flake cites his opposition to President Trump’s re-election, and a third resolution to censure Ducey cites his failure to remove emergency coronavirus pandemic restrictions.
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