Ward: US can’t wait for McCain to decide on future after cancer diagnosis
Jul 21, 2017, 1:03 PM | Updated: Mar 1, 2018, 3:58 pm
(AP Photos)
(AP Photos)
Editor’s Note: On Friday Dr. Kelli Ward joined KTAR News 92.3’s Mac & Gaydos. The below comments and interview were discussed. Listen to that full interview above.
PHOENIX — An Arizona politician who challenged U.S. Sen. John McCain in last year’s election said Thursday that the country cannot sit on its hands while the senator decides his future following a brain cancer diagnosis.
“We can’t be at a standstill for John McCain to determine what he’s going to do,” Dr. Kelli Ward told Indiana station 1190 AM WOWO.
Ward claimed the Senate would be without a 51-vote majority — which is untrue — in McCain’s absence.
“That can’t stand,” she said. “We can’t have, until the 2018 election, waiting around to accomplish the Trump agenda.”
The senator was recovering in Arizona from last week’s surgery that discovered cancer.
Ward said she feels for the McCain family, but expected them to advise him it’s time to call it a career.
“I hope that Sen. McCain is going to look long and hard at this,” she said. “His family and his advisers are going to look at this and they’re going to advise him to step away as quickly as possible so that the business of the country and the business of Arizona being represented at the federal level can move forward.”
Ward — who blasted McCain’s health prior to last year’s Republican primary — said it was unlikely the senator would return to Washington, D.C. fully able to do his job.
“The likelihood that John McCain is going to be able to come back to the Senate and be at full force for the people of our state and for the people of the United States is low,” she said.
For his part, McCain tweeted that he wants to return to work in the nation’s capital.
But should he opt to retire, Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey would be required to name another Republican to take his place until the 2018 election. Despite currently running against U.S. Sen. Jeff Flake, Ward hoped her name would be in the mix of possible candidates.
“I certainly hope so, because I have a proven track record in years on the state Senate of being extremely effective and of listening to the voices of people that I represent,” she said. “I made an extremely good showing against Sen. McCain against all odds.”
The senator won the primary by 13 percent of the vote.
