Cindy McCain ups support of Joe Biden, joins Democrat’s transition team
Sep 28, 2020, 4:00 PM
PHOENIX – Cindy McCain isn’t just endorsing Joe Biden for president; she’s going to work for the Democratic nominee.
The widow of John McCain, the longtime Republican U.S. senator from Arizona who died in 2018, is joining the former vice president’s transition team.
She is among two Republicans on Biden’s 16-member transition advisory board, along with Bob McDonald, the former Procter & Gamble Co. chief executive who headed the Department of Veterans Affairs under President Barack Obama.
As required by law, Biden’s transition team is preparing for a smooth transfer of power should Biden win the presidency. The teams typically line up candidates for key appointments and prepare to implement policies early in the new president’s administration.
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Biden’s team says it is focused especially on the pandemic and its economic fallout.
Ted Kaufman, one of five co-chairs of Biden’s transition team, cited McCain’s experience in business and philanthropy and her advocacy for women and children.
“This transition is like no other, preparing amid the backdrop of a global health crisis and struggling economy,” Kaufman, a longtime Biden aide who was appointed to fill his Senate seat when he was elected vice president, said in a statement.
Cindy McCain initially showed public support for Biden by lending her voice to a video about his relationship with her husband that was played during the Democratic National Convention.
Last week, she formally endorsed the former senator from Delaware, saying she wasn’t changing parties but could not support President Donald Trump.
“In this administration, there is no character, or integrity or values. That’s why you’re so important because you represent all of those things,” she told Biden in a video explaining her endorsement.
In August 2018, Biden delivered a eulogy at a memorial service for John McCain in Phoenix.
While McCain shared a party with Trump, he regularly clashed with the president, who once said the former POW wasn’t a war hero “because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
