Senator John McCain said Thursday he is backing the Republican party’s presidential nominee, even though the senator told donors last month that Donald Trump’s comments about Latinos were hurting his re-election campaign.
Advertisement
“I think it would have to depend on the circumstances, but my focus is on my own campaign”, McCain said during the appearance at Karsten Manufacturing, the makers of PING golf clubs, where he received the endorsements of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
“If there is a Donald Trump at the top of the ticket, and you’re in Arizona with over 30 percent of the vote being Hispanic vote, I have no doubt that this may be the race of my life”, McCain says in the recording.
While McCain won’t go to this summer’s Republican National Convention in Cleveland – he says he needs to focus on his own August 30 Senate GOP primary – he didn’t rule out campaigning with Trump at some point.
“After 33 years in Washington John McCain has changed, and Donald Trump proves that he has changed”, Kirkpatrick said in an interview, comments reflecting the Democratic approach in key Senate races across the country.
“It is the turbulence in the whole political environment here.it is a time of great turbulence”, said McCain.
McCain told Mac & Gaydos that he views every election as the most important race in which he has ever ran. And he worries that Hillary Clinton will continue Obama’s foreign policy.
Speaking to reporters afterward, McCain tried to downplay the idea that Trump would hurt his own reelection. Many Republican candidates, including Senate District 15 candidates Heidi Gansert and Eugene Hoover, said they would support Trump in the general election.
His decision to support Trump is especially notable, considering the bombastic billionaire, last July, insulted the former prisoner of war’s military record. He said he would support Trump as the Republican nominee despite Trump’s history of bad-mouthing him. “I like people who weren’t captured”.
Asked if he was supporting or endorsing Trump, McCain again said he would back the nominee. “That is nothing but bad news for John McCain and good news for Ann Kirkpatrick”, Herstam said. John McCain has a complicated relationship with Donald Trump. “I think that makes sense”.
Next up, Sullivan’s answer mirrored McCain’s, saying he disagreed with Trump but won’t oppose him.
Advertisement
McCain, the senior GOP senator, has a different take.
